So here's the thing
by Layleu
Summary: Steph becomes confused after the events in ten big ones and takes some measures to sort out her life. As a result she is drawn into an adventure that she will never forget.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer; I don't own anything or anyone. Just like to use my imagination.**

**Chapter One**

So here is the thing!

I am a thirty something female (cant reveal all my secrets) that lives in Trenton, New Jersey .

I live in a small apartment on the not so good side of town which I share with my pet hamster rex. I work as a bounty hunter for my cousin Vinnie which sometimes puts me in life threatening situations, and I have a very complicated relationship with two incredible guys.

Doesn't sound too bad huh

Well I must admit there are times when I wouldn't trade my life for anything in the world, and then there are the moments when I wish the ground would swallow me whole never to be seen again.

You see everything was going great, I was living with my on gain off again cop boyfriend Joe Morelli whom I have known since I was six (wont give the details now) I had money in my bank account, I was bringing in regular skips without too much embarrassment and my sister was getting married to her boyfriend Albert Kloughn. There was a lot to look forward too.

But the good times never last, because before I knew it, I attracted the attention of a gang in town called the Slayers, they had put a contract out on me, and a guy called Junkman had been trying to kill me.

As a result (and out of concern for my friends and family) I fled Joe Morelli' house and moved into Rangers (other guy in my life) vacant apartment, we co-inhabited for a night or two.

Everything turned out ok as Junkman was killed by Sally (transvestite that drives a school bus) and I moved back in with Morelli.

Problem is this is where the difficulty started.

After living in the same space with Ranger I couldn't seem to concentrate on anything for very long without my thoughts drifting to him.

I thought about Morelli as well and I felt myself torn in half.

So here I am two months later, still torn and with no idea which direction I want my life to go.

The truth of the matter is I am at a cross roads in my life and I figure I have three choices.

1. Stick with Morelli, make a compromise and settle down, its familiar, he knows the best of worst of me and loves me anyway. I know I love him as well I just can't say it out loud.

2. Break it off with Morelli and explore what my relationship with Ranger might be if I was unattached. High risk as I don't know much about him, and what I do know leaves me hanging out for more. He once said that his life didn't lend itself to relationships. But when I think about it we already have one, even if it is quite strange.

3. Go out on my own without any romantic attachments to ether man and take the proper time and consideration to work out my feelings (easier said than done).

I chose option three, which brings me up to speed as I am currently getting the last of my belongings from Joe's house to shift back to my apartment.

To say that he didn't take our break up well is an understatement, there was no yelling, no cursing, he just looked at me with his cop face in place, nodded and left the house.

I was saving the need to cry until I got safely back to my apartment.

Ironically I was borrowing a black SUV off Ranger to move my things. Thankfully Tank was my helper not Ranger himself as that may have been too much in my now vulnerable state.

Tank helped me carry the last of my belongings inside my apartment.

I placed Rex back on the kitchen counter and heaved a heavy sigh. It was then that I noticed how clean my apartment looked. Valerie had been living here the last few months and the results had not been pretty. It was now so clean that the kitchen counter was almost sparkling.

Tank must have noticed my questioning glance as he decided to fill me in on the details

'Ranger had a cleaning crew come through while you were packing' Tank smiled 'There was some interesting wildlife growing in places'

I looked at Tank at first in astonishment and then as what he said sank in I smiled. 'Tell Ranger I said thanks' my smile faded

Tank frowned 'You can tell him when you see him next'

All of a sudden I felt very tired and drawn

'No Tank I can't. We have decided it best not to run into each other for a while'

Tank raised an eyebrow at me '_We_'

I caved

'Ok I have decided it best for Ranger and I not to see each other for a while'

Tank looked a little concerned 'Why'

I gave into the tired feeling and walked over to the couch and plonked myself onto it I took a deep breath looking down at my hands I tried to explain.

'I am confused, When I am with Morelli I think about Ranger and when I am with Ranger I feel guilty over Morelli, I need some time to think to sort this all out so I can get on with my life. Being around ether of them at the moment will just confuse me'

I tore my gaze away from my hands and looked up at Tank, he looked very serious, grim almost

'Have you filled Ranger in on the details?'

I shook my head, I know its lame but I couldn't really bring myself to tell Ranger what I had just told his second in command, I was hoping Tank could fill him in for me. I know it's the scaredy cat routine but I just didn't feel strong enough to face Ranger right now. Most of all I was scared how he would react, and terrified that he wouldn't react at all.

Tanks expression was definitely grim now 'Steph you have to tell him'

I sighed and nodded 'I know'

Tank stood there looking at me for a few more minutes and must have decided it was time to go 'Are we done here'

I nodded to tired to speak, I got off the couch and walked over to Tank, I am not sure what came over me cause I found myself hugging him with tears stinging my eyes. He stood rock still at first but after a few moments he relaxed and hugged me back. I forced myself to speak 'Thanks Tank, for everything' and I released him from the hug.

Tank smiled at me 'No problem Steph' and with another quick squeeze he left.

When Tank left I went straight to bed stripped off to my bra and panties and fell into a deep dreamless sleep.

**Chapter 2**

I woke up feeling like I had a hangover, my head was pounding and my eyes were all gritty. I opened my eyes and realised the sun had been up for a long time. I went to the bathroom and checked myself in the mirror.

Oh jeez!

I had bed hair and very dark circles under my eyes; I looked like I hadn't slept at all. I decided it was time to face the day and took a shower and brushed my teeth.

I was halfway through drying my hair when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

It ether meant a psycho was in my apartment or I was about to have my dreaded talk with Ranger.

It turned out to be the second one.

Standing in the doorway of the bathroom Ranger, his expression was blank

I sighed and gave up towelling my hair dry, not feeling like talking in the bathroom I walked past him and took a seat on the bed with my legs crossed underneath me.

It didn't occur to me until a bit later that this wasn't the best place to have a discussion with Ranger.

I looked down at my clasped hands and bit the bullet that was trying hard to escape me. I decided evasion was the best policy.

'Thanks for getting my apartment cleaned last night'

Silence.

I looked up to find Ranger watching me, his expression remained blank. He was still in the bathroom doorway but had turned to face me.

'You talked to Tank' I asked

Ranger nodded.

Great now wasn't the time for him to go silent on me, this was going to be hard enough, but if I had to do all the talking I was likely ramble to fill the silence and that was never good.

'What did he tell you' I asked, I needed to know before I tried to explain

Ranger took a few slow steps towards me

'he said that you were confused'

he continued towards me

'that you needed to sort out your feelings'

he was now directly in front of me and I swallowed nervously in my throat.

He squatted down in front of me and looked me in the eye. His expression had somewhat softened and his eyes met mine and held 'What are you confused about Babe'

I kept the eye contact 'Me' I answered truthfully

Ranger stood up and sat on the bed next to me close enough that I could feel his presence but far enough away that he wasn't touching me.

'What else' he asked me quietly

'You, Morelli, my job, my life' I was getting these one word sentences down pat

Ranger was quiet for a moment

'Is that why you broke it off with Morelli'

I nodded 'it isn't fair to him if I am having doubts and continue to share his house' This was what had been plaguing me most of all my guilt. I felt guilty that I couldn't tell Joe I loved him, I felt guilty that I had feelings for Ranger and I felt guilty that I may have been in the way of Joe finding happiness with someone else.

I looked at Ranger and it struck me for the hundredth time how much I wanted to jump his bones.

Feeling the need to get back on track I got off the bed to put some distance between us and started pacing across my bedroom.

How was I going to tell one of my best friends that I couldn't hang out with them anymore.

I must have become lost in my thoughts because I felt a hand grab my arm and spin me around in mid pace.

Ranger had his hands on my shoulders and looked me directly in the eyes.

'What is going on Babe' he looked concerned

And my mouth disconnected from my brain. 'I feel like I am torn in two or three pieces with a different part of me wanting to go in three different directions. A part of me wants to marry Morelli and have kids, but not be a housewife. Another part wants to see where the bounty hunting will go and continue to live life day by day not looking around the corner just live in the moment. And the other part wants to explore…'

_Shit shut up Stephanie_, I caught myself just in time

Ranger pushed 'Explore what Babe'

I shrugged 'it doesn't matter, the point is I need time, to put the pieces of the puzzle back together' great don't think he is going to leave this one.

I was right.

Ranger released my shoulders and took hold of my hands; he was rubbing his thumb absently along the back of my hand. It was sending shivers down my spine.

Ranger was looking down at his hands and asked me in a very quiet voice

'Is this why you want me to stay away from you'

I was speechless

He looked up at me questioningly, I felt my stomach turn, I felt ill, and I felt guilty.

_Damn it, _

'Babe' he asked

I forced myself to look at him and make eye contact 'I don't _want_ you to stay away Ranger. I _need_ you to take a step back' I felt like I was going to be sick. This was too hard. 'Please'

He stared at me his expression not changing and at length he nodded, quietly he let go of my hands and headed for the door he stopped just before he reached it and turned so he was facing me again 'I will step back Babe' I sighed and was about to thank him but was caught by the mischievous look in his eyes 'For as long as Morelli does' he smiled at me and left, locking the door after him.

I watched the door for a long time after he left. I had what I wanted right, Joe wasn't talking to me and Ranger had agreed to take a step back.

Why did I feel like I had just made things fifty times worse?


	2. Chapter 3

Disclaimer, I don't own anything. I wait until my mind plagues me to write and manipulate these poor charaters to my will.

Thanks for the reviews it is certaintly encouraging and inspiring to hear that people like your story. Do not fear to give criticism if you have any, all ideas are worth considering.

_**Twitch in my eye** – Thankyou_

_**Chex69**- Cool name by the way, I will try and update at least once a week, hope you keep enjoying the story._

_**ecstacyrain** – thankyou_

_**farieangel** – Thanks, I agree with you on Steph jumping straight from Ranger to Joe and back again. I wondered what could happen if she did take some time out and what it would mean for her and the guys. I hope you like where it is going._

_**TheBrassPotato** – I like the last comment as well, took a while to think of one that would have the right effect._

_**F**. Thanks, I hope my writing style doesn't disappoint you in further chapters. More coming soon_

_**Swapneshwari** – Are you Austalian? Thanks glad you like it._

_**Pissy Poet** –Blush! Thankyou lots and lots that is VERY encouraging I hope I don't disappoint and let my writing style fall ether. I am new at this so sometimes its hard to know what people will think. I hope you continue to like it._

_**Fiona Mckinnon** – Don't worry lots more to come_

_**HildaG** – Wow thanks, glad like the idea, I have thought about this for a while, probably ever since reading hard eight and Steph first got involved with Ranger. This chapter is a little slow, but it sets up an important issue for the rest of the story so bear with me as I will be updating again in a few days. Just have to edit the next couple of chapters before placing them here._

Thanks to everyone else who had read my story, hope you enjoy

**Chapter 4**

After Ranger left and I my feelings of anxiety down, I called my dad and asked if he could bring the trusty old Buick around for me.

I was still waiting on my insurance cheque for the last car I blew up.

_Damn insurance company_

Once Dad picked me up and I had dropped him back home, I found myself feeling a little hungry so I swung by McDonalds on the way to the office and picked up a large coke and some fries. _Comfort food._

I pulled up out side the office and parked behind Lula's Firebird. I also noticed Rangers black bronco parked out the front.

_Great _I wasn't ready for this.

Sighing I turned the engine off, locked the car and headed into the office. As usual Connie and Lula were painting their nails and gossiping about the latest happenings in the Burg.

Ranger wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Connie looked up upon my entering and smiled.

"He's in the office with Vinnie, said he had something important to discuss with him'

I shrugged trying to act uninterested the information. I casually picked up some of the files on Connies desk and started to rifle through them.

Lula grunted at my lack of response 'What's with you'

I shrugged not looking at Lula I casually answered 'Nothing'

Lula frowned and walked over so she was standing directly in front of me. I looked at her trying to figure out what she was going to do.

She surprised me.

Looking me up and down her expression changed from annoyed to somewhat concerned

'You look like shit, Spill it' she demanded

_Shit _I must have vibes coming off me in waves if Lula could read me that easily. Come to think of it Lula could always read my moods pretty well, she had this knack of being able to tell if I had been having sex or not.

It was strange.

I still felt tired this morning and didn't feel like getting grilled by Lula when Ranger could walk out at any moment. I sighed and slumped down onto the couch Vinnie kept in his office. I looked up at Lula

'Not here' I said quietly

Lula's eyes widened in surprise, she whispered 'Does it have to do with batman'

I nodded 'Sort of'

Lula jumped into action

'Well lets go and get some skips then' she hurried behind her desk and grabbed her bag and paced over to me. She had a hold of my arm and was trying to pull me up when we heard the sound of Vinnie's office door opening. Lula stopped pulling and plonked herself onto the couch next to me. She snatched one of the files out of my lap and was pretending to look it over.

I was curious to what she was doing 'Lula, what are you doing'

She looked at as if to say 'Duh' but said 'Pretending to be busy'

I found myself smiling 'you've never cared before'

Lula looked up from her file and looked thoughtful, after a few moments she frowned at me 'I care, I just want to keep myself occupied, on account of you getting me all excited with news on you and batman'

Lula just had the last part out when I felt someone approach

'What news Babe'

Shit, now Ranger was going to think I had been talking about him. I swallowed and looked up, my eyes met Rangers and held

'Not important' I replied

His expression was a little questioning as if he wasn't sure if he should stay or go.

I took the choice out of his hands and stood up.

I smiled at him and started heading to the office door.

Halfway there I stopped and turned back to Lula.

'You coming' I asked

She practically leapt out of her seat and charged towards me.

'Sure am' and she was out the door in a flash.

I looked at Ranger who was still standing in front of the couch looking amused. His eyes met mine for a second time and I found myself smiling 'Later Ranger' I said and headed out the door just in time to hear Ranger reply softy.

'Later Babe'

Lula and I took the Buick skip hunting, it seemed to be a lucky car and I was feeling in need of some luck today. Our choices consisted of an automobile thief, a domestic violence repeat offender, or a possession charge first time offender.

We chose the automobile thief.

Lula was yet to start questioning me about Ranger, _thank god_

I pulled up outside the skips house, which was just around the corner from Joe's house (sigh).

His name was Ricky Smart. In his file it said he didn't have a car so I was hoping this would be an easy pickup.

Remember me saying nothing goes as you planned. Well this was one of those occasions.

At first everything was going smoothly. Lula and I knocked on the door introduced ourselves and Ricky agreed to come and get rebounded. I had him cuffed and ready to hop into the Buick when Lula tripped and dropped her bag spilling the contents everywhere.

Unfortunately Lula's glock found itself at Ricky's feet.

I felt my heart contract and skip a few beats, I froze watching to see what he was going to do.

At first he seemed shocked, then recognition must have sunk in cause he picked the gun up (cuffed) and held it to my head. Now this wasn't the first time I had been held at gunpoint and I was pretty sure it wouldn't be my last so I managed not to mess my pants.

He looked me directly in the eyes and said 'Give me the keys'

I was a little puzzled, did he mean to the cuffs or to the car, I didn't want to piss off the guy who was holding a gun to my head, but hell I wasn't a mind reader. I felt a bit of anger rise and used it to speak 'To what'

He sighed and looked at his hands 'The cuffs moron'

I reached into my pocked and tried to find the keys, nothing there. I was trying to remember when I had last seen them. _Shit_ they were in my cookie jar with my gun.

'I don't have them on me'

At first he looked annoyed, probably thinking I was bluffing, but after a close scrutinisatsion he seemed to believe me because he started cursing. (Words that I won't repeat).

'Of all the dumb idiotic things…..' he stopped mid rant and smiled.

_Ohh ooo_

Pointing the gun in my face again he gestured towards the car 'Get in'

No way was I getting in that car with a gun happy thief. "Why'

'Because I need you to drive dumbass'

'Drive where' I asked

'Anywhere, just get in the car or I will blow your head off'

Ok this was enough incentive for me, so I caved and got in the car.

I guess you are wondering where Lula was during all this.

After she had picked up all her belongings off the ground and placed them back in her bag, she had been watching the interaction with her mouth hanging open.

Now that Ricky was motioning me into the car she went into action and pulled out her pepper spray and sprayed him in the side of the face as he was getting into the car next to me.

Problem was he yelled in pain flopped into the passengers seat and closed the door after him. He was waving the gun around cursing and yelling in pain.

After a few seconds he realised I wasn't driving and started yelling at me.

'Drive or I will start shooting not caring who I hit'

I stayed still and found myself feeling a little sorry for the poor guy. I know what its like to be sprayed with the stuff and it hurt like hell.

'Stop rubbing your eyes it will make it worse' I tried to help.

'Just shut up and drive' he yelled back at me.

I looked up and motioned for Lula to hop in. She eyed me like I was crazy but jumped in the back anyway.

Taking advantage of my skips inability to see for the next few minutes I flawed the Buick and drove straight to the police station.

As soon as I pulled up in my usual spot, out the back of the station things flew into action.

Standing outside the back entrance with a donut in his hand was my old friend Eddie, he smiled as soon as I pulled up and started towards the vehicle. But I silently motioned for him to stop and made a gun gesture with my hand. He stopped and turned signalling to Carl and Big dog. They both pulled out their guns and headed towards the Buick.

I glanced back over to Ricky, he was still rubbing his eyes and was moaning in pain, He hadn't noticed that I had stopped driving.

Quietly I opened the car door and hopped out. Lula did the same.

Eddie and Co opened the passenger side door and reefed Ricky out of the car and onto the ground.

They managed to disarm him, but not before he got off a few shots with Lula's glock.

I felt a sudden pain in my right shoulder and was fighting the desire to slump down to the ground.

Next thing I knew Lula was screaming something incoherent and slumped the ground next to me. I knelt down beside her and noticed blood pouring from her left leg. I yelled for help and all of a sudden we were surrounded by people. I looked around and everyone seemed to be yelling but no sound was coming out.

I couldn't hear anything.

What was going on?

I looked at my hands, they were covered in blood.

Lula's blood.

An ambulance pulled up and the crowd dispersed. They placed Lula on a stretcher and piled her into the ambulance.

She was moaning in pain.

The ambulance drove off sirens blaring.

I just stood staring as it disappeared out of sight.

Eddies face came into view. He was waving his hand in front of my face and saying something to me. I mentally shook myself. My vision was starting to blur. I tried to concentrate on his face but he seemed to be moving further and further away. I felt his hand on my arm but couldn't seem to respond. I was tired, so tired.

I should sleep, just a little nap,

I closed my eyes and lay down on the concrete.

The last thing I heard was Eddie violently swear 'Fuck she's been hit".


	3. Chapter 4

I have spent the last week in the hospital.

You see I was shot in the shoulder by a gun crazy skip that decided that they weren't going down without a fight.

Lula had been shot as well and was rushed to the hospital, she had to have surgery on her leg as the bullet hit some bone, but overall she is going to be ok.

I was relieved.

I could vaguely remember a lot of blood surrounding her and screams of pain. Lula screaming was not a sound I was going to forget in the near future.

My injury turned out to be a little more complicated. Eddie had been in to tell me the story.

Apparently I had passed out before he noticed I had been shot. He and Big Dog had rushed me to the hospital in a police car with the sirens flashing. (I had always wanted to do that pity I wasn't awake)

Once we got to the hospital I had lost a lot of blood and hadn't fully come around.

Apparently I had been a little disorientated and kept telling them to call Ranger. Eddie said he tried but kept getting his answering machine.

The bullet had hit me in the shoulder and hadn't gone straight through, so they had to operate to remove it.

After the surgery I got an infection in the wound and spent the next three days in a cloudy fever. I can't remember much from those three days, but according to Connie and my Grandmother I got pretty intent on leaving the hospital. Apparently I tried to escape several times. (Yes in my backless gown) and had gone wondering, they had found me each time, but the physical excursion I went through to escape had made my fever and infection worse. In the end they decided to sedate me and have a nurse stand guard on my door. Not the most ideal situation to spend your time recovering.

Today was my last day in hospital my fever had gone down and the infection had passed I was excited by the idea of going home. But dreading that I would end up at my parents place. In the past I would have gone to Joe's or had Rangers men to look after me, but I was yet to see either one at the hospital, and no one had mentioned them coming to visit me.

I guess they took my needing space idea seriously.

If I was honest with myself I was a little hurt.

I mean I was shot,

I could have died.

But I guess that's what you get for asking for space.

I should be happy they took me seriously right.

But deep down I was terrified What if they had moved on already, what if they didn't need me in their lives anymore. What if I really needed them more than I had realized and now it was too late to tell them? Did I mention how crazy I am going being couped up in this place. I really needed to go home so that I could stop what ifing. It was making me depressed.

It turned out that I was safe to go to my apartment as long as I stayed quiet and got a lot of rest. Lula had gone to stay with her sister in Miami.

I never even knew she had a sister.

My father drove me to my apartment and walked me up. He had actually stacked my fridge with all my favorite foods and had an alarm system installed. I was shocked and got a little teary eyed. He had asked me to call if I needed anything and promised to keep my mother away for as long as he could.

Have I mentioned how great my dad is?

So here I am sitting alone in my apartment watching ghost busters and trying not to stress about my life. I wasn't any closer to figuring out what I wanted and I was all starting to feel sick from all the junk food I had been eating.

After watching ghost busters for the fifth time I decided I needed some air. I couldn't drive yet so I decided I would walk to the bakery and get a semi healthy snack. Some kind of pastry with fruit in it.

I got about half way to the bakery before I decided, maybe wasn't such a good idea. My head was starting to pound and my shoulder was starting to throb. I made my way to the nearest chair and sat down.

_Ok Stephanie think_.

I couldn't call Lula she was out of town; I wasn't calling my parents, as I would just end up staying with them. Mary Lou was on vacation. That left Connie, Vinnie Joe and Ranger.

No way was I calling Vinnie or Connie.

_Ranger or Joe._

I decided and called the next best person for the job. I just wasn't sure if he would help me.

'What' he answered

'Tank' I asked hesitantly

'Bombshell' he asked, he sounded a little surprised

'Yeah Tank its me, I need a ride are you free'

I heard some movement in the background before Tank came back on line.

'Where are you' he asked quietly as if he was whispering

'Just down the road from my apartment'

'Ill be there soon' and he disconnected.

I looked at my phone. Tank had sounded a little strange. I felt a twinge of guilt, what if he had been in the middle of something.

I waited for eight minutes and spotted a black SUV roll past. It chucked a ewey and made its way back to my position. I went to stand up but nearly passed out from the throbbing in my head. Tank jumped out and made his way over to me. He pushed me back down onto the chair and sat down beside me. After a couple minutes he spoke.

'What happened'?

I looked up at him and shrugged 'I tried to walk to the bakery but got halfway and decided it wasn't such a good idea'

Tank looked a little surprised, 'I know you don't like to exercise much Steph but that's a little pathetic'

I couldn't help feeling hurt, I mean I had just been shot, spent a week in hospital and spent the last twelve hours stuffing my face with junk food while watching ghost busters, forgive me if I wasn't feeling one hundred percent.

It never occurred to me that Tank hadn't heard about the shooting.

In a huff I stood up and started to walk away from him while mumbling about shitty men.

Tank must have seen my arm strapped to my body for the first time as he gasped and ran to me and placed his arm around me in a supportive motion.

'Hold on Steph, you want to tell me what's going on'

'I was shot' I grumbled still in a bit of a mood.

'When did this happen' he asked concerned

One look at his concerned face and I felt all my crankiness melt away. He looked worried about me.

'It was a skip, he shot Lula and I after we brought him in, I was in the hospital for a week and got home last night. I was trying to walk to the bakery but found it too hard so I called you, I had no one else to call, I'm sorry' I felt the tears starting and turned to walk away again. Tank had other ideas and held me still.

'Not so fast, let me give you a lift'

I nodded and we headed to the truck. Tank drove me to the bakery and got me some apple pie. He drove me back to my apartment and walked me upstairs. He pushed me into a chair and disappeared into the kitchen. Ten minutes later he came back out with a coffee and two plates, he dished out the apple pie (half each) and we ate in silence. Once we were finished eating Tank sat back in his chair and looked at me seriously. I felt a little uncomfortable with the silence so I tried some conversation.

'I hope I didn't interrupt any thing when I called you'

Tank shook his head and smiled 'Nothing that couldn't be delayed'

'Where you alone' I found myself asking

'No' was all Tank offered as a response.

We sat in silence for a few more minutes. Tank watched me.

'Thanks for coming to pick me up, I would have called Joe, but we haven't spoken in over a week'

He remained silent. Watching me, I couldn't stand it any longer.

'What's going on' I asked

Tank frowned 'Explain'

You see I was nervous, to me it seemed a little odd that neither Ranger nor Joe had shown up at the hospital. It was even more strange that Tank hadn't known I had been shot. Usually Ranger or his men know everything that goes on around me and are the first ones to show up to a scene. When I got nervous I also tended to ramble, and when I rambled I said things that I didn't necessarily want to say.

'How come you didn't know I had been shot, you merry men always know what's going on, and how come Ranger wasn't at the hospital, I mean I know I asked him to take a step back but I didn't mean for him to stop coming at all. My spidery senses are going crazy and here you are sitting with me and eating pie, What's going on'

Tank watched me a moment before saying 'I have been out of town, so has Ranger. We were unreachable. That's why we didn't know what happened'

'That's it' I asked

'That's all I am going to say' he face was stony.

'Is Ranger back in town' I asked hesitantly

'He's on a job'

'In Trenton'

No response.

'Ok I understand you cant tell me what's going on. Thanks for the pie and for coming to my rescue, I am sure you want to get back to whatever it was that you were doing'

Tank nodded and rose from his chair 'If you need anything give me a call, if I cant come one of the guys will'

I was going to ask what about Ranger, but bit my tongue, I figured if Tank didn't mention him he must be in the wind.

I smiled, thanked Tank again and he left.


	4. Chapter 5

_Sorry for the delay on the update. I hope you haven't given up on this story yet. I have just been super busy. But things have calmed down a bit now so the updates should be a bit more regular._

_I hope you enjoy this chapter it is a little short but there is more to come soon._

So here's the thing.

My spidery senses are going haywire.

I have a feeling that something is going on.

Something that involves the two men in my life.

Something that I am sure I am not supposed to know about.

You see it all started when I asked them both for some space. They both complied and I didn't have time to process what that felt like before I got shot. Then I was in the hospital for a week and to my surprise neither of them came to visit me. Now three weeks later I haven't seen or heard from either of them.

They both mysteriously had business out of town at the same time. Tank Ranger's right hand man comes and visits me every few days. Ever since he found out that I had been shot he seems to think I need watching over. I am not sure weather I should be pissed off or grateful. Whenever I go out after skips and I look like I need help one of Rangers men appear and helps me with the takedown, then leaves. I asked Connie to send part of the bond money to Rangeman, for their help, which she does. But a few days later I get a check in the mail from Rangeman for the same amount so I guess that idea is a little useless.

Tank never mentions Ranger when he visits and I know better than to ask.

Eddie my old school mate who works at the police station just says that Morelli is out of town on an important case, he either doesn't know anything else or has been warned not to tell me anything. Not even donuts and pizza could bribe it out of him and trust me just the hint of a donut and he usually spills it all.

So you can't blame me for thinking something is up.

It all adds up to one thing _Strange!_

So I figure I have two choices here, I can try and find out what is going on and ask a lot of questions in places I know I am not going to get any answers. Or just get on with things go about my usual business and wait until I stumble upon something that gives me a clue to where they might be.

I chose option two and this brings me up to speed as I am currently sitting in Vinnie's office looking at a file for a Mr Henry Tidals.

Mr Tidals is a club owner; he is opening up a new joint down the road from the Rangeman offices.

As soon as I picked up the file my spidery senses went off the radar. I guess this guy is either super creepy which by his photo isn't hard to believe, or Ranger and Joe are somehow involved with this new club opening

I quickly jumped up out of my seat and headed to the rack of magazines next to Lula's desk. Ignoring the questioning looks from Connie and Lula I frantically searched. Finally at the bottom of the pile I found it. It was a page spread on Mr Tidals and details on the grand opening.

_Shit!_

The opening was tonight at seven. I quickly glanced at my watch it was currently four pm. If I left for Macy's now I might just have a chance of getting a new outfit, underwear and to the opening by 7:30pm. It was always good not to be the first one there. With a plan in mind I turned to Lula and Connie and smiled my best I am so pathetic smile.

They immediately sensed something was up as Connie looked like a dear caught in the headlights and Lula narrowed her eyes.

I decided to just spill it.

'What do you two have planned for tonight?'

Connie groaned and said 'No way am I helping you kidnap somebody again'

Lula just narrowed her eyes further.

'I don't need to kidnap anyone, I was going to ask if either of you wanted to come with me to the new club on Hayden St. I thought it might be nice to go out and have a little fun since I am now a free and single'

Connie's eyes widened in surprise 'What about Morelli?'

Lula scoffed 'Forget super cop What about batman?'

I sighed 'Do you see either of them here. Anyway I just said I wanted to have some fun, not plan a wedding'

Connie smiled and nodded 'I'm in'

Lula however smelt a rat she regarded me closely for a minute or two before finally giving in and nodding 'Ok girl I'm in, but we better have some fun tonight'

I felt a tingle of excitement run down my spine 'you can count on it Lula'

Little did she know that I was going to check out my skip and spy for any sign of my mentor and my ex.

'So who is up for some last minute shopping?' I asked knowing what the answer would be.

Lula was out of her seat in a flash and on her way to the door, she turned when she had it opened and asked 'Well are you two coming?'

I laughed and turned to Connie who smile got out of her chair and followed me out. She locked the door behind her and we all hopped in Lula's firebird and headed to Macy's.

An hour and a half, three hundred dollars a new outfit and a new set of underwear later I finally made it back to my apartment and had an hour to get ready before Lula was coming around to pick me up.

I was ready with five minutes to spare and was about to head downstairs to meet Lula; I heard a knock on my door. Most people I know usually let themselves in so I couldn't help the small jump I gave at the sound. Cursing slightly under my breath I rushed over and swung the door open ready to say hi and bye on the run, But as I opened the door I was forced to stop as I found myself face to face with a very different looking Ranger!


	5. Chapter 6

_Ok, firstly thankyou to everyone for the reviews. Due to protest over cliff hangers I am going post more often, it just means that the chapters will be shorter. _

_I really didn't mean to stop where I did last time it's just that I get an idea and have to go with it. Sorry if that sucks, will try really hard not to have anymore hanging chapters._

_Anyway on with the story and I hope you enjoy. The adventure is about to begin!_

_I opened the door to find myself face to face with a very different looking Ranger._

'Babe'

To say I was shocked was an understatement not only did look Ranger incredibly different,_ he had cut all his hair off almost a number one shaved job, he had a blue pair of jeans and a white shirt on and he was going with the I haven't shaved for a few days look, as you can probably imagine, he looked really, really good._

But I was having so many different feelings towards seeing him right now that I didn't trust myself to speak just yet.

I mentally shook myself and looked up to meet Ranger's eyes. He was smiling at me.

'Can I come in?' he asked

I took a step back and motioned for him to enter. He made his way over to the couch and sat down, just as I was about to follow him my cell phone rang.

It was Lula.

'Hey' I answered

Lula must have had the music pumping in her car as she was yelling into the phone 'I'm down stairs girl, where are you?'

'Still in my apartment, I will be down in a minute' I hung up and turned to find Ranger standing right behind me. I jumped and cursed under my breath, why couldn't Ranger make a sound when he moved.

He had smiled at my cursing and grabbled hold of both my hands.

I was still a little pissed at him sneaking up on me and I was having a hard time thinking when he had hold of any part of me.

I pulled my hands away from him and placed some distance between us.

I could feel all the frustration from the last few weeks of missing him build up inside me and I didn't want him to see how much it had affected me, but then when I thought about it I was sick of pretending I didn't have any feelings for Ranger. The whole time I had been with Joe I had been trying to deny the feelings that I had been developing for my mentor, out of guilt and fear, but now what did I really have to fear.

I could walk up and kiss him if I wanted to; I mean why not he does it to me.

I turned back to face Ranger and noticed he was looking at me with a slightly concerned expression.

"How is the shoulder?' he asked softly

'Fine'

'Tank said you are back at work'

'Yep'

Ranger was watching me closely now, it was unlike me to have only one word answers and he seemed a little concerned 'Babe, you ok?'

I knew Lula was waiting downstairs and I knew I had to go, so acting purely on impulse I walked straight up to Ranger placed my hands on either side of his face and gave him the most passionate kiss I could muster. He responded immediately and tried to gain control of the kiss, but as soon as I felt myself giving in and losing my grasp on myself I pulled back turned on my heel and walked out if the apartment and jumped in Lula's firebird, without looking back.

I knew if I looked back I wouldn't have had the courage to leave and for once I had been the first one.

And it felt empowering.

Now I know that by kissing Ranger I am giving him completely mixed signals, one minute I am asking for space and the next I am kissing him. But in the last few weeks without Joe or Ranger around I have been in control of my life. No one has been there to make a fuss about my injury or to curse at me for getting shot yet again, No one has been there to try and tell me what to do or to make fun of me.

When Ranger entered my apartment tonight looking so different, I know this is corny but it was like a sign. I realised that I was so tired of things the way they were. I was tired of fighting my feelings for him; I had always denied them or pushed them aside out of guilt over Morelli and fear. I had never really explored or pursued them and tonight for the first time since I met him I felt free to do so. I am not saying that the guilt won't play a factor; it just doesn't control me anymore.

I didn't need space, time or words anymore, I just needed to take action and tonight I had done so.

I felt empowered, confident and free, what better place to celebrate than the new club.

Lula must have noticed something was different because she kept casting me funny glances. She didn't say anything however, she just smiled and we drove in a comfortable silence all the way to Connies


	6. Chapter 7

We picked Connie up and arrived at the club by 7:30pm which was pretty good timing.

I hadn't spoken much since Lula picked me up, but neither Lula nor Connie seemed to mind very much.

I was trying not to think too much about my actions in the apartment or leaving Ranger standing there like that. I wanted to hold on to the feeling it had given me and have a good night out while spying on my skip.

Now that I knew Ranger was back I didn't have to worry about finding him anymore. In regards to Joe, maybe he was really out of town on business.

But something told me it wasn't really all that simple.

Why had Ranger looked so different, and why had he knocked instead of just letting himself into apartment like he usually did.

_Shit, no more thinking about Ranger! No more thinking about Ranger!_

Lula pulled up a few blocks from the club and parked. We all got out of the car and slowly made our way to the door (the problem with wearing four inch heels).

Outside the entrance was a line up about 20 metres long, I had been hoping that by arriving a little late that the line would have dispersed a little more.

Unfortunately I was wrong.

I groaned in frustration and turned to face Lula who looked equally as pissed. Connie however smiled and pulled three plastic passes out of her bag she handed one to each of us.

'Put these on, I got them this afternoon after we decided to go, I thought they might come in handy' she said with a mischievous grin as she placed one of the passes around her neck.

Curious I looked down at the pass now in my hand. _Oh crap!_

I turned back to Connie and handed her the pass "No way am I doing that'

Connie just ignored my hand and turned to Lula 'What do you think?'

Lula looked down at her pass and then back up at the line that had amazingly increased in the moments we had been standing there. She turned back to Connie and shrugged.

'It sure beats standing in that line for an hour' and she placed the pass around her neck.

I looked at both of them and felt myself undecided, was it really that big a deal, although present company wasn't a great example of what an ordinary female would consider crossing a line. One was an ex hooker and the other was well I wasn't entirely sure what Connie was capable of. I looked back down at my pass and read it over again.

_VIP special immediate entry for a table dance. _It wasn't that bad, I could do it. I ignored the questioning glances from Lula and Connie and placed the pass around my neck and headed strode for the door. Connie gave out a hoot and Lula whistled behind me. I ignored them, showed the doorman my pass and made my way inside. If I was going to give a table dance I was going to need some alcohol**_, a lot of alcohol._**

Once we were inside I headed straight for the bar without taking a look around I smiled. Connie and Lula were on my heels. The bar tender came over immediately and smiled.

I smiled back and asked for three strawberry dakeries. The bartender just nodded and went about getting the drinks.

Connie and Lula came up either side of me, I ignored both of them and concentrated on watching the drinks being made. To say I was pissed was probably over doing it. As it had been my choice to use the pass, I was just really not looking forward to doing a table dance for a group of complete strangers. At least I had a little bit of time to down some alcohol, the pass just indicated that you had to do the dance before you left. I guess they checked if you had been stamped as you were leaving the club. The penalty was listed as a 'surprise' which I was guessing wasn't going to be very inviting.

The dakeries came and I passed one to both Lula and Connie. We all looked at each other nodded and skulled them in one go. I turned back to the guy behind the bar and nodded. He seemed to understand I wanted another round as he went about making three more.

After skulling another two drinks I was feeling a lot more optimistic about my up coming table dance. I still hadn't spoken much, which for me was strange. Usually me and alcohol equal blabber mouth. But tonight I wasn't feeling the need to talk. Connie and Lula had been whispering to themselves and occasionally tried to include me in the conversation but gave up after observing my lack of interest. They had been talking about Ranger and his merry men and which one they believed was the hottest. Connie was a die hard Ranger fan but Lula leaned a little more towards Tank. They were practically drooling just thinking about it.

I decided to tune them out. Don't get me wrong I completely understood where they were coming from. But the last thing I needed to think about while getting intoxicated was Ranger and his body. That would just end up with to many hot flushes, too much thinking about the kiss in my apartment and me over analysing my own actions.

I wasn't going to do that.

Especially not tonight.

The drinks must have been kicking in as I was starting to feel like there was electricity running through my veins, I turned and looked at the dance floor.

It was packed, people were dancing in pairs groups and by themselves. I could feel the vibration of the music through the floor and couldn't help slightly moving my body to the beat.

I scanned the dance floor again and I felt like it was beckoning me over and it couldn't hurt to get some practice in before I had to jump on a table. I turned back to Lula and Connie.

'You guys want to go dance' I asked and indicated towards the floor.

They both nodded enthusiastically so we headed out amongst the bodies on the floor and found a little space on the right hand side.

The song had a fairly fast beat which was good as it made it easier to relax and just dance. Almost as soon as we got settled on the floor we had three guys approach us. Connie latched on to one of them almost immediately, Lula smiled and danced with the second one, which left me and number three.

Thinking what the hell I looked number three up and down. I know that is a really obvious thing to do to show you are checking someone out but given my usual male company this guy had a lot to live up to. I must admit though he was pretty hot, He had short dark brown hair, kind of wavy. Bright smiling blue eyes and a pretty darn good body which his clothes helped to exhibit, in a subtle way.

I looked back up to his face and smiled when I noticed he was doing exactly the same thing to me. He looked back up to my face and blushed when he realised he had been caught out. I just smiled and held out my hand. He looked a little surprised but took it anyway.

We started dancing together, in a slightly more than friendly way but not the full ruff and tumble. I had to admit that it felt nice to be held again, over the last few weeks I had missed that feeling of going to sleep and waking up next to a warm body, in a strange way it made you feel safe and protected.

After a few songs I took a look around and noticed both Lula and Connie had disappeared with their dates. _Great! _Dancing with a complete stranger was one thing but being left alone with him while in an intoxicated state with a table dance looming in the not to distant future left me a little edgy.

My dance partner seemed to notice my anxiety as he placed a hand on my shoulder to get my attention and motioned towards the bar. I nodded in response and we left the dance floor hand in hand. (It's easier to make it through the crowd this way)

I headed straight for the bar and took a seat, the same bartender from before came right over. I asked for the same as before and looked up at my partner who had taken the seat next to me and still had hold of my hand. He asked for a beer, the bar guy nodded and went about getting the drinks.

I turned back to my partner and smiled I guess it was time to exchange names

'Hi, I am Stephanie'

'Josh' he replied

There was a moment of silence and I was starting to wonder if I was doomed be in the company of one word answering guys forever, but Josh surprised me as he broke the silence first.

'I haven't seen mine or your friends for a while, but don't worry the guys cant leave without me they visiting me form out of town and are staying at my place'

'They have to be around here, I am sure they will find us when they are ready' the bar guy came and placed the drinks in front of us and I handed some money to pay but he just shook his head and pointed towards Josh. Confused I turned to Josh and gave him a questioning look.

He looked to grimace slightly and then blushed, 'My brother owns the club, the benefit of being part of the family is me and my friends get free drinks'

I was in a little shock, he was my skips brother, he looked nothing like the creepy I had seen in the photo this morning.

I picked up my drink and sculled it down, I turned back to the guy behind the bar and indicated I wanted another one the same.

I turned back to Josh and found him watching me he looked a little concerned 'Are you ok' he asked me

I didn't want him to know that I knew who his brother was so I answered in a calm voice 'Yeah I am fine, just all the dancing has made me a little thirsty'

He looked at me for a moment seemed to relax a bit 'So what do you do for a day job?'

I had to stop myself from sighing, why couldn't this ever be easy I couldn't exactly tell the truth and say hi I am a bounty hunter and by the way I want to collect your brother. So instead I told a half lie.

'I work in law enforcement' ok so a little more than a half lie

Josh's eyes widened and he smiled 'Really, I wouldn't have picked that as your occupation'

I was curious and really wanted to change the subject so I asked 'Why, what did you think I did'

He smiled and looked at the pass around my neck 'Something more along those lines'

I looked down at my pass (which I had completely forgotten about) and felt myself blush.

'No that was my friends way of getting us in without lining up, I was hoping to find a loop hole before I actually had to go through with it'

Josh shook his head and grinned at me "why didn't you just throw it in the bin once you were inside the door, who would have known the difference'

I must have looked a little confused because he smiled and reached up behind my head grabbed the tag and gently lifted it over my head, he threw the tag over the bar and turned back to face me 'there you go, you have found your loop hole'

Now usually when a strange guy touches me especially the ones from distraction jobs I get a grossed out and have to restrain myself from shuddering in disgust. But with Josh the sensation wasn't unpleasant. Now this could be a mix of the effects of the alcohol and a bit of pent up loneliness from the last couple of weeks. But right now with him sitting in front of me smiling and being kind if sweet, I was acting before I was thinking and I reached over placed my hands on either side of his face and kissed him. He reacted and kissed me back but didn't try and deepen it. After a little bit he pulled back gently and smiled a cheeky smile.

'What was that for' he asked

'Gratitude for getting me out of the Table dance, I wasn't looking forward to it'

'Those tags are a fun activity for the drunken girls and guys who like doing it, my brother thought it was a good idea to bring people inside. Speaking of table dancing, isn't that your two friends up there'

I turned and looked in the direction Josh was pointing. Standing on a table doing a duo was Connie and Lula grinding away as a crowd of people were cheering them on from below. I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.

Connie looked trashed and was having trouble staying balanced as she danced. Lula on the other hand had a bottle in her hand that she was using as a pretend microphone and was singing her heart out as she danced to the beat of the music. She was actually quite good. When the song ended they both took a bow and the crowd clapped and cheered.

I guess table dancing wasn't so bad after all.

I turned back to Josh 'I think they are having a good time'

He smiled that cheeky smile at me again 'Looks like'

I turned back to my drink and realised it was empty again, _Geez that went quick._

I looked back to where Connie and Lula had been dancing and saw them making their way over with Josh's friends. I went to stand up to go and meet them but as soon as I put my feet on the ground I realised how drunk I really was. The room started to spin and I felt my feet give out a little and I reached out and put my hand on Josh's shoulder to steady myself. He placed his hand on my upper arm to steady me. This simple action sent shivers down my spine, now I knew I definitely had too much to drink. The only other person who had ever given me shivers was Ranger, and while this guy was nice and sweet in a strange kind of way he was no Ranger.

Once I felt secure on my feet I thanked him and smiled 'I just needto go to the bathroom, Can you let Connie and Lula know where I am'

Josh nodded and I headed off in the direction I saw the bathroom in earlier. On my way I had to pass the dance floor so I decided to keep an eye out for my skip. I definitely wasn't going to try and bring him in tonight especially with my current intoxication but a little snooping never hurt.

As I moved through the crowd I scanned the people around but caught no sign of Mr Creepy, he was probably busy with other stuff tonight, I guess I was going to have to try again later.

I finally made my way to the bathroom and headed down the corridor towards the ladies entrance, but as I was about to open the door, I felt myself wrenched into what I guess was the janitors closet and a hand closed it self firmly around my mouth.

I followed my first instinct and stamped on my attacker's foot, I heard a small protest and the hand released slightly on my mouth, I took advantage of the little bit of freedom and tried to kick them in the nuts, but my assailant had recovered and intercepted my foot.

I could feel myself start to panic, here I was in a loud club trapped in a closet with who knows and no one would hear me scream. I felt the anger and adrenaline rise within me again. No way was I going down without a fight. I dealt with this kind of scum everyday and was still alive, what made this one think he was any different.

He still had his hand over my mouth so I did the only thing I could think of and bit down as hard as I could. He immediately released his hand so I turned and kicked him in the groin as hard as I could in four inch heels and a dress. I turned to run out of the room but was halted by a hand on my upper arm and the sound of a very familiar voice.

'Babe. Wait'

I froze at the sound of his voice and turned around, slightly silhouetted in the dark was Ranger, I could just make out the outline of his face but couldn't read his expression.

I was feeling, _shit_ I don't what the hell I was feeling, one minute he is there the next he is gone, then he is back and I kiss him in my apartment, now he is scaring the hell out of me by pulling into a closet at a nightclub.

What the hell was going on?

I needed to get out of this room, I needed to go home, I took one last look at his silent shadow and turned back to the door, I was about to pull down on the handle when I was hurled back and was then pinned against the wall with my arms placed above my head.

Ranger had himself placed up against me so that almost every part of our bodies that could be touching was doing so.

'Going somewhere?' he asked me in his usual quite tone

I took a deep breath trying to clear my head and noticed that Ranger smelt different, he no longer had the intoxicating Bulgari smell. He now smelt like freshly mowed grass. I shook my head trying to get a grip on this. Not that I minded the smell of grass it was quite refreshing, just not on Ranger! I leaned into the side of Ranger's neck and took another sniff.

'You smell different' I said little more husky than I had intended.

Ranger laughed and shifted back a little breaking body contact 'Part of the job I am currently working on, all part of the image'

I tugged at my arms that were still pinned above my head, trying to get Ranger to release them.

He smiled slightly "are you going to run away'

My arms were getting tired 'No'

Ranger nodded and released my arms but placed his hands on my upper arms instead, I got goose bumps at the contact, it never failed to amaze me the effect this man could have on me at one simple touch.

I looked up and met his eyes for the first time since entering the closet. He looked amused, but tired, I hadn't really taken time to really look at him in my apartment I had been so wrapped up in my own feelings that I hadn't stopped to think about why Ranger had been away.

Now I felt a little guilty.

Ranger however broke me out of my musings.

'Babe, I need to talk to you about something'

'Now' I asked a little apprehensive.

'Now' he said

I nodded 'ok'

Ranger seemed to be relieved and took a step away from me so that he was no longer touching me. I felt cold at the loss of contact but took the opportunity to stand up from against the wall. I watched him waiting for him to start.

Eventually he did.

"Babe I know why you are here tonight, to check out your latest skip, but I need you to back off this one'

I guess it wasn't the first time that Ranger had asked me to give up a skip, but I couldn't help but be a little curious. "Why'

Ranger looked at me for a moment 'I don't suppose there is much chance that you will just back off without an explanation'

I was going to hold my ground 'you guess right'

Ranger sighed and took a step towards me 'I cant tell you all the details but this guy is involved in the job I am working on at the moment, and if he gets the inkling you are on to him he might end up being more suspicious towards other people as well could break my cover'

I was curious 'what is your cover exactly'

Ranger smiled 'I am a labourer at the club, some of the work upstairs isn't finished yet, it gives me an opportunity to see what is going on'

'Is that why you smell different, you aren't trying to smell to sexy'

Ranger smiled a full ranger smile 'You think I am sexy babe'

I rolled my eyes and felt myself smile 'What do you want me to do'

Ranger turned serous again 'You can come to the club, just don't seek out your skip, and stay away from any of his associates'

I must have looked a little guilty as Ranger frowned at my expression

'Babe' he asked in a questioning tone

'It might be too late for that'

'Explain' Ranger asked me

I didn't really want to explain how I after I had kissed and left him at my apartment, I had come out to the club only to hook with my skips brother, but their was something about my relationship with Ranger that made it almost impossible for me to lie to him, so I bit the bullet and told him the truth.

'I may have accidentally already made contact with his brother'

Ranger took a step towards me 'how much contact?'

I looked down at my hands 'Just a bit of dancing and drinking, I may have slipped in a kiss somewhere' I couldn't bring myself to look Ranger in the eye

'Which brother' he asked. I felt him move closer to me so that we were almost touching again

'Josh, I didn't know it was his brother until after we had been dancing for a while, otherwise I wouldn't have ...'

Ranger however cut me off 'Don't worry about it, are you ok to get home?'

I was a little dumbstruck 'Yeah Lula is driving us'

Ranger smiled at this 'I don't think Lula is going to be driving anywhere tonight Babe, especially after that table dance'

'You saw that' I asked already knowing that answer

'Yes, I was waiting for you to join them'

'But if you knew I was here you would have known who I had been dancing with'

Ranger smiled and nodded.

'Then why the questions' I asked a little pissed off.

'I wanted to see if you knew who you were dancing with'

I shook my head and smiled, he was always one step ahead of me and I wanted that to change. I looked back up at his face; he was close to me now, very close. So I took a chance, stood on my tippy toes and placed my lips to his in a gentle kiss, well what I meant as a gentle kiss but soon turned into something more heated. Ranger pushed me up against the wall and proceeded to kiss the living daylights out of me until I lost sense of everything but him. When he pulled back he looked me in the eye and smiled.

'If you are going to play with fire Babe, be prepared for the consequences' he said in a thick voice.

I was still in a head spin from the kiss but managed to respond

'No complaints here'

Ranger gave me one more swift kiss and then moved away so that I could stand up properly 'You need to get back, if you need a ride home let me know'

I nodded "yep will do' and left the closet with my head spinning and my heart racing fully aware that I hadn't actually agreed to do anything Ranger had asked.


	7. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Own nothing, know nothing, just write something.

Ok first of all I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who sent those awesome reviews. Its great opening your email and being able to smile at the things people say about what you have written. There is no greater motivator than feedback.

Now there is a lot more to come to this story so don't let this chapter make you think that it is coming to a close. This chapter is an important part of the setup for Steph's adventure. She is getting into something that will change a lot of things for her. Anyway thanks again and let me know what you think. Hope I don't disappoint.

After I left the closet I made my way to the bathroom, relieved myself and tried to slow down the racing beat of my heart. Once I felt like it was moderately back to normal I headed back to where I had left Josh, hoping that Connie and Lula were there and ready to go home. I was starting to feel really tired.

I searched through the crowd for Connie and Lula but found no sign of them or their admirers. I was about to go outside and call Ranger for a lift when I felt a hand rest on my shoulder. I turned and found myself face to face with Josh and a very attractive brunette woman.

Josh smiled at me "I have been looking for you, your friends said to tell you that they have gone home for the night. I will give you a ride home'

Damn Connie and Lula, I guess they got lucky and they probably thought I had as well.

I thought about it for a moment but shook my head 'That's ok, I have a friend that can give me a lift'

Josh looked at me a little confused then a realisation seemed to dawn on him as he suddenly smiled. "Sorry Steph how rude of me' he turned to the brunette next to him 'This is my friend Alisa she and I have been friends for a few years, Alisa this is Stephanie'

I held out my hand and gently shook Alisa's hand she returned the shake and smiled at me 'You are all he has been talking about since I ran into him, you must have made quite an impression'

I couldn't help the blush that crept into my cheeks. I looked at Josh and found he looked equally as embarrassed. We all stood their in silence for a few moments and I took it as my opportunity to leave.

'It was nice to meet you Alisa but I am really tired and should really head home, thankyou for having some fun with me tonight Josh I really enjoyed it' I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek " I might see you around'

I gave Alisa one last smile and pulled out my cell phone and number one on my speed dial.

'Yo' he answered

'Hey, you remember that lift you offered'

'Yeah Babe' I could hear the smile in his voice.

'Are you able to help me out Connie and Lula have left me high and dry'

'Meet me out front' he said and then disconnected.

I turned back to find Josh and Alisa still standing there.

'We will walk you out we are about to head off ourselves' Josh stated. I just smiled nodded and led the way outside hoping that it wouldn't interfere with Ranger's undercover operation.

We made it out the front and stood a little to the left of the door away from the majority of the crowd. Josh pulled a card out of his wallet and placed it in my hand.

'If you want to do this again sometime or just go for a coffee give me a call' He gave another of his cheeky smiles then leaned in and gave me a light kiss on the lips 'Think about it' he whispered

Just at that moment I felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.

'Steph' he stated with an edge to his voice

I turned away from Josh to face Ranger he had his blank face in place.

I felt a little guilty.

'Hi' I stated not sure if I could use his name or not 'Josh, Alisa this is a friend of mine…'

'Ricardo' Alisa finished for me

I looked first at Ranger he smiled and walked up and shook Josh's hand then walked over and gave Alisa a very friendly kiss on the cheek while draping his arm around her shoulders.

I had to hold back the shock that came over me. What the hell was going on! Then it hit me, this could be part of Ranger's undercover operation.

I forced myself to smile 'You know each other' I asked with a genuinely surprised voice.

Alisa gave a friendly laugh 'I was about to ask the same question'

We both turned to Ranger/Ricardo and waited.

Ranger gave me a light smile that didn't reach his eyes 'I met Steph a few years ago and we have been friends ever since' he turned his gaze on Alisa 'Alisa and I met about a month ago through the job I have been doing on the club'

I felt myself relax a little, it was part of the job, however my relief was short lived as Alisa dropped the bomb.

'Yes I went upstairs one day to visit Josh and see how the construction of the club was going and I met Ricardo, we hit it off right away and have been seeing each other ever since' she reached up and gave Ranger a tender kiss on the lips, which he seemed to return.

Watching them I felt my heart freeze in my chest and a cold shiver ran up my spine and arms, but amazingly enough I managed to keep my face void the emotions that were plummeting through my body.

I forced my second smile for the night 'That's Great, what a small world' to my amazement I actually sounded happy for them, I was a really good liar these days.

Ranger turned his gaze back to me 'I was just heading home when you called me' he removed his hand from around Alisa 'Are you ready' he asked.

I was at indecision at what to do. What did Ranger want me to say. Was I supposed to say no and let him stay on the job or was I supposed to take him up on the offer and go home as planned. I looked up at him trying to get some hint of what he wanted me to say.

His eyes met mine, then flickered towards Josh beside me then back to mine again. I bit my bottom lip and tried to determine what the hell that was supposed to mean. Not wanting to jeopardise whatever Ranger was working on I smiled and shook my head.

'That's ok Ricardo, I don't want to impose on your time together' I turned back to Josh 'Josh is that offer still open to give me a lift'

Josh's face lit up and he smiled 'Sure is'

I turned to Alisa we exchanged the _nice to meet you's_ and as Josh was saying goodnight to his old friend I turned to mine. He didn't look a happy chappy.

'Night' was all I could say while the words _its just a job, its just a jo,b_ echoed through my mind

'Will you be alright' he asked in a low voice

I nodded

'Be safe' he said and kissed me lightly on the top of my head.

'Always' I whispered and turned and left with Josh as a warm feeling swept over me.

It turned out Josh drove a red SUV almost identical to the one Morelli used to drive. I felt a pang at the thought of Joe, but pushed it down to be dealt with another tine. At the moment I was numb and I wanted to continue feeling numb until I got home and was safely wrapped in my bed.

Josh drove in silence that was only broken by me giving him occasional directions. When we reached my parking lot he turned the motor off and I felt a wave of panic run through me, what was he expecting.

My feelings must have been clear on my face as Josh tapped me lightly on the arm and smiled 'Relax Steph I am just going to walk you up. I don't expect anything from you, not this early'

I forced myself to relax a little and nodded 'Thanks'

We made our way up to my door I thanked Josh again and he kissed me again. While is was nice, I couldn't put my heart into it, all i could see were images of Ranger and Alisa flashing through my mind.

I broke the kiss said goodnight and entered my apartment promising to call Josh for Coffee when I got the chance. I would have promised almost anything to be alone right now.

Once safely inside my apartment I said hi to Rex who was hiding in his soup can, then went straight to bed stripping off to my bra and panties. I jumped into bed and pulled the cover up tightly around me just as the first tears started to fall.

Why was I crying, well here's the thing.

I knew I had no hold on Ranger or his activities just he had no hold on me. I knew I had sent him away asking for some space and I know that I had been kissing him and then turning around and kissing Josh.

But!

Seeing him kiss someone else tonight for the first time since I had known him had sent a sharp pain through my heart. Even though I knew it was most likely part of the job, I couldn't help but wonder how I would cope if it wasn't. The worst part was that I was being a big hypocrite, as the entire tine I had known Ranger I had been on and off with Joe. So what right did I have to have these feelings?

It wasn't his fault, he had done nothing that I hadn't done myself, I had no one to blame for my pain but myself.

And that thought made me cry even harder, why was life so bloody complicated why was everything so screwed up and was I so terrified to have feelings for the one man who always stood by me and always kept me safe.

I drifted off into a deep sleep with a familiar tingling at the base of my neck.


	8. Chapter 9

_Ok just a few things before you read on, Thankyou again for the reviews it made me excited enough to post for the second time in forty eightr hours. Usually it takes me a week at least to get the next instalment finished. So thanks for that. Secondly don't worry if this chapter is a little of the road, its tying up a very important loose end that I felt needed resolving before Steph moved on._

_Let me know what you think, I tried to portray the emotions accurately to the characters but it is much harder than I thought it would be, not sure if I got it right._

Have you ever gone to sleep feeling like nothing in the world was going your way, like a black cloud was hovering over you and no matter how hard you tried to make it into the sun you just weren't going to escape the inevitable down pour.

Well that's how I felt last night.

But!

Amazingly enough I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and hopeful. I don't know if I had any dreams last night or not, but do I remember semi waking up through the night feeling safe and warm

You see last night to I went out to a new night club in town (with Connie and Lula) intending to spy on one of my skips and scope out the scene.

But as usual my plans never go as intended.

I ended up kissing and walking out on Ranger, kissing my skips brother Josh, then Ranger again, then my skips brother again, then witnessing Ranger kiss someone else.

You can see it was quite an emotional night and I ended up crying myself to sleep feeling pretty darn horrible.

But this morning I woke up feeling different, strange almost. I couldn't put my finger on why or how, but I felt an inner calm this morning, I felt stronger, hopeful.

Taking advantage of these new emotions I decided to take a step forward, I was going to go running. I know I never go running unless being bribed by tasty treats or the idea of seeing Ranger in _those_ shorts, but today I felt like running.

So here I am in my running shorts and t shirt ready to face the extensive wheezing and red blotchy skin that this activity was going to cause.

Usually that thought alone would have me changing and heading to the bakery for a donut (okay several donuts).

But not today, today I was ready for the challenge.

I started out slow, trying to concentrate on my breathing. After about 3 miles I felt a horrible stitch in my side and my vision was starting to blur. So I slowed down and walked the rest of the way back to my apartment telling myself that I would do better tomorrow.

By the time I got back to my apartment door I had almost managed to stop wheezing. I went to put the key in my door but noticed the door was already slightly ajar.

_Great _This usually meant that some sick psychotic person had left me some kind of sick present or a truly profound note, and the day had started so well.

I slowly pushed the door open and crept into the apartment.

Sitting on my couch was a very familiar figure with their head their hands.

'Joe' I whispered hoping it wasn't a crazy look alike.

He jumped at the sound of my voice and looked up in my direction, I felt a wave of relief rush through me, it wasn't a crazy look alike, it was the original.

'Cupcake' he said in a tired voice, he took in my appearance and smiled "since when do you go running?'

'Since this morning' I answered

Joe's smile widened 'Things have changed'

I nodded and moved towards the kitchen to get a drink of water. I hadn't seen Joe since the day I had told him I had wanted time to sort myself out. That had been six weeks ago. It wasn't that i wasn't gals to see him but I couldn't help feeling anxious about why he was here now.

I got a glass of water and moved back to the couch. I sat in the chair opposite and faced my ex.

Joe looked me in the eyes 'how is the shoulder'

'Fine' I was getting good at these one word answers lately

Joe seemed uncomfortable with my answer 'I am sorry I couldn't make it to the hospital Steph, but I was working on an important case and couldn't get away, you know I would have if I could'

He sounded so sad and worried that I believed him and cut him some slack.

'I understand Joe, its ok I am all better now'

Joe seemed surprised 'that's it, it's that simple' he asked

'Yep' I said with a smile

Joe gave a sigh of relief and stood up from his chair and moved to squat in front of me he reached up and placed a gentle hand on my cheek.

'I missed you Cupcake' he whispered softly

_Oh Boy! Here it comes!_

'I missed you to' I answered truthfully

Joe's eyes took on _that look_ and I knew he was going to kiss me, I panicked and quickly stood up in my chair and jumped over the side but unluckily for me I tripped and landed flat on my butt.

_Shit Shit Shit_

Joe came over and held his hand out to help me up. On instinct I gave him my hand only to be hauled up so that my body was pressing closely to Morelli's. I looked up at Joe and noticed he was smiling

'Don't tell you have forgotten how to do this' he said and I saw him lean down to kiss me again.

I closed my eyes and gave a deep sigh. I didn't need this right now, actually I didn't want this right now.

'Joe stop' I said quietly without opening my eyes.

Joe must have heard me as the kiss never came but he kept his tight hold on me.

I opened my eyes to find him looking down at me. His cop face was in place but there was a vein pulsating in his neck. He was anything but relaxed.

'What's wrong' he asked softly

'This is wrong' I said without realising what I had said before it came out of my mouth.

Joe released me and took a few steps away turning so that he had his back to me.

'How long' he asked quietly

I sighed again and took a step towards him 'How long for what Joe' I had a pretty good idea what he had meant but I didn't want to be guessing at a time like this.

Joe turned back to face me and I was taken back by the look of sadness that came across his face.

"How long much longer do you need to sort out your feelings?'

I kept eye contact with him 'it's not a matter of time' I watched his face change from sadness to slight shock.

'What are you saying Steph' he asked with what sounded like fear in his voice.

I broke eye contact and felt the familiar guilt surround me.

_Damn it._

I had put this guilt behind me I didn't want to feel like that anymore. But I didn't want to hurt Joe either. I was comfortable with Joe and it was true that he knew the best and worst of me and still loved me. But while I was pretty sure I loved him too. All I could see when I looked into the future was two separate paths for us which were only going to get further and further apart. I had to let him go, to find his happiness and it was going to break my heart to do so.

I turned back to the man that had been such an important part of my life and said what I had to say.

'Joe, I Love you' _shit did that just come out of my mouth!_

Joe's head snapped up and he looked at me in complete surprise and then smiled, but on seeing the expression on my face his smile faded and the fear returned.

'But?' he asked me in a questioning tone

I buried my own shock at the words that had finally escaped my lips and continued

'But I think we are all wrong for each other'

Joe sighed and was about to speak but I needed to get this out and cut him off

'Hear me out please' I pleaded him

He nodded and waited

'While we are good together, sometimes even great, I can't help but feel that we are being pulled in different directions, I know this sounds like a lame excuse but think about it. You hate my job, I hate your job, and the most important part, you want to get married and have kids in the near future. I can't even see past the next twenty four hours let alone the next few years. Marriage and kids aren't really on my agenda at the moment, hell I don't even know if they ever will be'

'But I told you I would wait until you are ready for that, we have discussed this' Joe stated

I felt the tears begin to stir in my eyes, I was so tired of fighting with Joe, I didn't blame him for being upset, hell I was having trouble keeping from taking it all back and deciding to give it another shot. But I knew that this was the right thing to do, so I delved into some of the calmness that I had felt this morning.

'I know we did, but don't you see, you shouldn't have to wait until I am ready, you should be able to have what you want. I can't expect you to wait until you are old and grey to have children, it's not fair to you and to be truthful Joe, it's not fair to me either. The expectation and impatience would soon outweigh any understanding between us'

I took a deep breath and pushed the tears back, after I felt like I had myself under control I looked up to find Joe staring at me with moisture in his eyes.

'You really believe what you are saying don't you' he asked me softly

I nodded and felt my eyes begin to water again

'Are you sure you don't want more time to think about this Steph, I know it's been an emotional month and I know I haven't been there for you but this is serious stuff, you are talking about quits for good, aren't you?'

I nodded again 'I think it's best'

Joe looked at me and searched my face for what felt like forever then seemed to come to a realisation, he took the last few steps between us and cupped my face in his hands and gave me a long tender kiss. I felt my heart creep into my throat and the tears I had been holding back started falling freely.

It felt like a good bye kiss.

After a minute or two, he pulled back an inch and looked me in the eyes 'I am not going to pretend am ok with this, or that I am not hurt, but I do understand what you are trying to do for me, its one of the reasons I love you so much' He gave me one more quick kiss on the lips and whispered "Goodbye Cupcake' and left before I could utter another sound.


	9. Chapter 10

_Just wanted to let you know that the last chapter was not an indication that this was going to be a cupcake story. Honestly Morelli will hardly be in it from now on. I just didn't want them to have an angry screaming separation; I didn't want to make Morelli into an ass. This story as you can probably already tell is mostly about Steph and of course Ranger. So sorry if the last chapter gave the wrong impression it was just my interpretation of how they would say goodbye. In all good conscience I couldn't make Steph do that._

On with the story!

After Joe left I just stood there standing in the same spot, after a minute or two the realisation of what had just happened hit me. I had broken up with Supercop Joe Morelli and instead of the incredible heart stabbing pain and constant flowing tears that I had expected. I actually felt a huge surge of relief wash over me, it was as if the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders and I was now free. (Ok maybe that was a little dramatic) But I did feel relieved.

I had honestly been expecting screaming and ranting to come from both of us, but instead it had all been ok, sure it hurt to do it, but the guilt I had felt was gone and I felt like doing a happy dance. One faze of my life was over and I couldn't wait to start another.

Realising that I was still in my running clothes and was yet to have a shower I quickly made my way into the bedroom stripped off my smelly clothes and had a nice hot shower.

Once I was done I got dressed and was ready to head into the bonds office to gather some FTA's. I was feeling pumped and ready for action.

Only when I got downstairs did I realise that I didn't have a car. Valerie had borrowed big blue while I was in the hospital and I hadn't taken the trouble to get him back yet. I made my way to the parking lot and was about to dial Lula for a lift when I saw a familiar black SUV parked near the entrance. I smiled and made my way over and tapped on the glass.

The window wound down and Ranger's right hand man Tank smiled at me.

'Steph' he said in a friendly tone.

'Tank' I replied

Tank continued 'Ranger thought you might need a truck since your sister has the Buick'

I couldn't help frowning at the thought of Ranger, I hadn't forgotten the events of last night and even though I woke up this morning feeling better about the whole thing I couldn't help the twinge of pain that came with the memory.

Tank misinterpreted my frown 'Ranger said you might be reluctant to take the truck Steph, but he made it clear that I was not to come back until you had agreed'

I felt bad for Tank and looked over the truck, it was a nice truck and it would help to intimidate and impress my skips, what the hell.

''in that case I will take the truck Tank'

Tank beamed at me and hopped out of the truck and handed me the keys.

'Thanks' I said as I jumped in the driver's seat. I looked over the interior and felt myself smile. Yep all the standard Rangeman gizmo's and gadgets attached. I looked back to Tank to find him still standing there, usually by now another identical truck like this one would have pulled up and whisked him away.

"Do you need a ride?' I asked him wondering why today was different from any other.

Tank looked at me a little guilty 'actually no, but Ranger insisted that I ride with you today, What ever you may have planned'

I frowned 'Why, as far as I know there are no crazies after me this week'

Tank smiled at my lame attempt at a joke 'Boss's orders' was all he said

I sighed with frustration; I hated not knowing what was going on. Even though I trusted Ranger's judgement to protect me I still felt a little peeved that he didn't share the supposed danger with me. I decided I needed to have a chat with Ranger but didn't see the point in taking it out on Tank so I shrugged and motioned for him to get in the truck.

We headed to the bonds office after a brief stop at McDonalds were a got Connie and Lula some hangover food. I pulled up outside the office and got out of the truck, Tank decided to wait in the car as he didn't want to be run down by Lula.

I entered the office and saw two very sick looking individuals. They both had their heads down on their hands and only just managed to look up as I approached their desks. They had killer hangovers. I smiled at the look on Lula's face. She looked ready to kill.

'Tell me you brought some McDonalds with you, otherwise your skinny ass aint gonna be worth saving'

I looked over at Connie who looked hopeful at the suggestion of McDonalds. I turned back to Lula and pulled the bag out from behind my back and placed it on her desk. She and Connie tore into the contents, sighing and moaning as they ate.

Once they had both finished eating I asked Connie if there were any Skips. She motioned to the pile on her desk, I walked over and had a sift through, there were about two or three I could take down today of I took advantage of Tanks help.

I picked up the files and said goodbye to the girls on my way out the door.

Lula hadn't even noticed Tank sitting outside, the hangover must have been really bad.

I jumped in the truck and passed Tank the files while I headed to the first guys house. I pulled up on the Kerb two houses down and got out of the truck. Tank got out with me but blocked my path to the skips house.

I looked up at him questioningly

He smiled and shook his head 'I don't mind you making use of me and going after a few tough skips, but haven't you forgotten something'

I knew what he was talking about I didn't have my gun with me 'I figured you would take care of that side of things' I reached into my bag and pulled out my cuffs and pepper spray 'I have these' I held them out for Tank to look at.

He just smiled, opened the truck door and pulled a small hand gun out from under the passenger's seat. He held it out to me.

I pretended to pout and took the gun and placed in the waist at the back of my jeans.

'Happy' I pouted at him

Tank smiled again 'Much better'

We made our way to the skips front door, his name was Tom Nicholls. He was wanted for armed robbery and indecent assault on an elderly lady while riding on a public bus. The armed robbery had involved a sawn off shot gun. I was guessing the possibility of resistance was pretty definite.

Feeling more confident with Tank next to me I marched up and knocked on the front door.

The door opened and a young woman probably about twenty with dark brown hair and more piercings than I could count stood staring at us with her hands on her hips.

I decided to introduce myself 'Hi I am Stephanie Plum and this big guy here with me is Tank, we are looking for Tom Nicholls is he around'

The woman looked at me then at Tank and narrowed her eyes "what you want him for?'

I went for the usual spiel 'He missed his caught date and we are here to escort him to the police station so he can reschedule'

The girl's eyes widened and she moved to slam the door on us, but Tank was already moving and placed his foot in the way, while barging inside the house with his gun drawn. I followed suit but decided to keep my gun hidden for the moment.

Once the woman realised the door wasn't going to cut it she made to bolt out the back door but Tank grabbed her mid stride and hauled her up so that her feet were off the ground.

He wasn't quite fast enough to stop her screaming "Mum, Intruders' at the top of her lungs.

Tank told her to shut up or he was going to shove his gun down her throat, in response she spat in his face. I was guessing she had a death wish.

Tank placed her back on the ground and smacked his gun to the back of her head which caused her to slump to the ground unconscious.

He glanced my way 'She will be out for a bit, lets check out the rest of the house'

I nodded but before we could move a gun shot zipped straight passed my head, The bullet missed but not by much.

Next thing I knew a large weight tackled me to the ground as I heard another shot go off. It didn't take me long to figure out who had tackled me as he was up in a flash moving in the direction the shots came from. But not before telling me to stay put and to stay down.

Tank moved out the door and into the next room, I heard a few more gun shots and some grunting, as usual my curiosity got the better of me and I slowly crept along the floor until I got to the door. I pulled my gun out from my jeans and slowly moved around the corner. I needn't have bothered as lying on the ground in front Tank was my skip Tom Nicholls lying on the left hand side of him were two more thugs out cold. I was about to move towards Tank but and help him with the bodies when I saw a flicker of something in the corner of my eye.

I turned in the direction and saw a fifty something year old woman levelling a gun through the doorway at Tanks head. Without thinking and knowing that I didn't have enough time to warn him, I pulled out my gun aimed at the woman and fired.

She fell to the ground in a motionless heap.

I dropped the gun and moved towards Tank, not wanting to contemplate why she wasn't moving.

Tank looked at me in surprise and nodded at me in appreciation, but quickly recovered and took action. He cuffed the other two men making sure they were secure then moved towards the woman's body. I followed a couple metres behind not wanting to know the verdict, but unable to look away on getting closer to the body I saw a bloody mark right between her eyes, this didn't look good.

Tank leaned down and put his hand to her neck to check the pulse. He stood up slowly and turned to face me. He had his blank face on.

I felt my hands start to shake and the room was suddenly a lot colder, I looked Tank in the eyes trying to read something, anything from him about the woman's condition.

He held my gaze but his eyes didn't give anything away.

I finally regained by ability to speak 'is she….is she….alive' I asked barely above a whisper.

Tank dropped his blank face and his expression became concerned 'No Steph she's not'

I felt the blood rush to my head and my heart was thundering in my chest. I had just killed someone, shit I had just killed someone. I felt my whole body begin to shake.

I looked at the body again my eyes resting on the bullet hole between the eyes. All of a sudden I felt the bile rise in my throat.

I quickly turned away from Tank and emptied the contents of my stomach onto the carpet next to me.

I heard Tank curse under his breath; he came over and gently lifted me to my feet. I looked up at him; he was looking at me in concern "Are you ok' he asked

I nodded slowly

'Listen Steph, I need to make a phone call and get this place cleaned up, can you go into the next room and cuff the girl, I will be in there in a minute'

I nodded again and quickly left the room, deliberately avoiding looking at the body again.

The girl was still unconscious so I put my cuffs on her and sat down on the couch watching her in case she moved.

Tank came in and checked on me, while making his phone calls.

I don't know how much time passed but I heard sirens in the background and all of a sudden cops and paramedics were all coming through the door. It was all happening around me I didn't really register what was going on.

I felt a warm hand touch me lightly on the shoulder and I looked up to meet to very familiar brown eyes. He placed his hand on my arm pulled me up into a tight hug. I clung to him desperate to get warm again.

We left the building and made our way to the black truck Tank and I had pulled up in. I hoped in the passenger seat and hugged my knees up to my chest and closed my eyes.

Ranger got in the drivers seat and pulled away from the curb, every now and then I could feel his gaze on me but I couldn't bring myself to return the favour.

All I could think of was the body lying on the floor with a bullet hole between the eyes. A bullet that I had fired ending that woman's life. I knew I had taken a life before and I knew in my line of work I was lucky not to have taken more. What was really bothering me was the way I had acted without thinking. I could have shot her in the arm the leg the shoulder, anywhere that wouldn't kill her. But I had gone for the head and killed her. What kind of person did that make me? Would that be my first reaction now, would I always go for the kill? What happened to the Stephanie Plum that was scared of her gun? If she was gone, who the hell was I now?

Ranger stopped the car and I opened my eyes, we were in the Rangeman underground car park.

Ranger got out of the car and I silently followed suit, lacing his hand on the small of my back he guided me to the elevator and up to the seventh floor apartment. We entered the apartment in silence. Ranger guided me into the bedroom and sat me down on the bed. He squatted in front of me and looked up into my face. I looked at him for a moment but felt unable to hold his gaze. I lowered my gaze and turned my attention to my hands. Ranger placed his hands on mine and spoke for the first time since picking me up.

'Babe' he said softly 'Look at me'

I slowly lifted my eyes and looked at him, once he saw he had my attention he continued

'You didn't do anything wrong "Babe, you saved Tank's life'

I knew what he was trying to do, he thought I felt guilty, which I did of course, but I was also scared, scared of what I did.

'I know' I managed to whisper

He looked a little relieved but frowned when he saw that my hands had started to shake again. I tried to pull them away from his but he held them firm and started to rub them as if trying to keep them warm. This action would usually have my hormones racing but right now I felt as cold as stone.

Ranger noticed me shiver and swore softly, he pushed the covers back on the bed, lay me down on the sheets and pulled the covers up tightly around me.

I closed my eyes and snuggled up taking some comfort in the warmth. Ranger leaned down and kissed me on the top of my head

'Get some rest Babe' he said and moved away from the bed.

Just he got to the door I opened my eyes and called out to him.

'Ranger'

He turned around to face me 'Yeah Babe'

'Stay' I asked hesitantly

He nodded and made his way over to the other side of the bed took of his guns and whatever else he had on him besides his clothes and slid in next to me. I felt warm arms come around me and fell into a dreamless sleep.

_Quick note, I know that Steph has killed someone before and I know she didn't loose her mind over it. But she has been going through a lot of changes in this story and she isn't really sure where she is headed. More than anything she is scared and uncertain. Don't worry she wont stay like this, she was just feeling a little vulnerable and needed support. Of course the person to give that to her had to be Ranger! (smiles)_

_Anyway let me know what you think, if you don't like the direction the story is taking let me know. I can handle critism._


	10. Chapter 11

Do you ever think back to when you were a child and you had an innocent out look on life. A time when you believed all your dreams were going to come true, a time when you believed everyone lived happily ever after. No matter how short that period of innocence was, it still at one moment in your life existed to you and for you alone.

Some people wanted to be fireman, lawyers (yuck), famous actors/actresses, elite athletes, superheros. Me I wanted to be Wonder woman (yes the costume and all)

I wanted to be that strong, that fast, that intelligent and even that beautiful.

Basically I wanted to fly.

I tried once but unfortunately I couldn't defy gravity and I fell to the ground.

For most people this would be enough to shatter that childhood dream and they would wake up the next morning and come up with a new one or just give up on it all together.

But not me,

I held on to mine,

After falling I kept it to myself I didn't speak about it anymore but it was always present in the back of my mind how else would I have had the guts to run over Morelli and break his leg .

It wasn't until after I went to college and married Dickie Orr (the horse's ass) that the dream became almost nonexistent. I had some how lost sight of it under all the pressure of the burg to get married and have 2.5 children.

Fortunately for me the horse's ass (no offence to the noble animal intended) showed his true colours and I found him screwing Joyce on my dinning room table.

Naturally we divorced and I moved on with my life, but from then on with each disappointment and let down I received in my life I started to let go of my dream, I didn't even realise I was doing it. When I got fired from the underwear buyer's job I was at a loss at what to do with myself and my life.

Lucky for me the world works in mysterious ways and I came up with the idea of doing filing for my cousin Vinnie.

Instead I ended up a bounty hunter and my life changed for the better.

You might be thinking about all the close calls and near misses I have had since entering this field. But it was all worth it, as on that first day form the moment I met Batman in the Café, I started to believe again.

It's incredibly hard to explain but meeting Ranger lit a spark inside of me that had been gradually extinguishing since the day I had tried to fly and failed. He unintentionally showed me that super heroes might really exist after all, my belief only got stronger the more I knew him. I am guessing that this is part of the pull I feel towards the man (anyway not to get off track)

Ever since that day the spark has been slowly getting brighter, sure there have been times when it wasn't so easy to believe and the spark dimmed but I was never down for long.

I learned to trust my instincts and myself again; I learned to trust myself to make the right decisions, which brings me to the current moment of my life.

Last night I trusted my instincts and I made a decision, I saw someone about to injure, quite possibly kill someone I care about and I acted.

A woman had pointed a gun at Tank and I shot her before she could, I killed her.

I was a wreck afterwards, terrified at what that meant.

Terrified that it made me something I didn't want to be and I had a slight breakdown and ended up spending the night in Batman's arms (we only slept).

Now while there are so many reasons why that shouldn't have happened (the main being he is seeing someone else) a large part of me is glad that it did, being around Ranger makes the impossible feel possible. He helps you believe in yourself without even trying to and last night I needed that belief and it worked.

This morning when I woke up and had some time to think, I remembered something. I remembered my dream, how I had always wanted to fly, how I had always wanted to be Wonder Woman. What would she have done in the same situation, she would have trusted her instincts and saved her friend.

Just like I did.

While I still felt a strong guilt and regret at taking a life, I did it to save a friend.

With that thought in mind, I knew I was going to be ok.


	11. Chapter 12

Since I had woken up and Ranger was long gone. I decided I needed something to eat. I made my way into the kitchen and found some coffee in the pot and a jar of peanut butter on the kitchen counter. Perfect!

After I had consumed some coffee and peanut butter on toast.

I decided to head home and face the dreaded phone calls that would undoubtedly be flooding my answering machine right now.

My mother probably would have had half the Burg call her by now telling her how terrible and destructive I was being involved in such things.

I was about to pick up my cell phone and call my Dad for a lift, when the door to Ranger's apartment door burst open and four large guys came barging in with bags in their hands.

It was Tank, Lester, Bobby and Hal.

Tank walked straight up to me and hugged me tightly. I felt the air being squished out of my lungs. Tank released me after a minute or two and held me at arms length.

'Thanks Steph' was all he got out before another large body that belonged to Lester smothered me in equally tight hug.

When Lester was finished the same thing happened with Bobby and Hal.

Once they were all done squeezing the life out of me, I looked at Tank with a raised eyebrow.

'What's this all about' I asked confused.

Tank smiled and looked at the other three who slightly nodded.

'We are here to welcome you to the team' he said in a proud voice

I was definitely confused now 'the team' I asked

'Yeah' Lester interjected 'you are now one of us'

'Hang on a sec guys, I appreciate the gesture, but why now' I knew this had something to do with last night but I wanted them to explain to me in their own words.

As a response Tank grabbed my hand and led me over to the couch, he sat me down and took the seat next to me. Lester sat on the other side and Bobby and Hal sat on the arms. They were all looking at me, their faces serious now.

Tank kept hold of my hand

'Steph there is something you need to understand about the relationship between us guys and Ranger, When we were all younger we served in the Ranger's together and went through some pretty tough times'

I looked at the other three and they all nodded.

Tank continued 'Four of us were on the same team when a mission went bad, I cant tell you the details, you probably know the drill from Ranger, but it was a life and death situation. There wasn't a time throughout that mission that we didn't have each others backs, and we got through it together'

I interrupted 'the four, it was Ranger, you, bobby and Lester wasn't it'

Tank nodded in approval 'You take notice, during that mission I got injured, shot in the leg, without the proper medical supplies the leg went bad and got infected, I was delirious. Ranger, Lester and Bobby got me through it and saved my life. After that mission we had formed a bond that was stronger than just colleges. We were like family to each other, so when Ric started Rangeman he offered us all a share in the company. Silent or active it was up to us. Of course we all jumped at the chance to work together again and haven't looked back since'

Lester sitting next to me took over from Tank

'As you can probably already tell we have a point for telling you this story. Since that mission we have been an unbreakable team, it is what brought us together and this is going to sound mushy and possibly ruin any tough reputation I have, but the thing that brought us together in that mission was saving Tanks life. About a year ago Hal saved Bobby during a security job. Hal now fills in on the team when Ranger can't as we trust him to watch our backs. It's a hard thing to learn to trust another person on your team when you are used to working with the same people for years. Many have tried to become apart of it and failed. Yesterday you showed us something. You showed us that you are willing to take someone else's safety into your own hands at the risk of your own. When you saved Tanks life you became one of us weather you like it or not Bombshell'

Lester grinned and picked up one of the bags and placed it in my lap.

'This is to say welcome and thankyou'

I opened the bag to find two tubs of my favourite ice cream. Bobby pulled out the biggest chocolate cake I have ever seen; Hal had a box of donuts. I turned to Tank with a look of utter shock on my face. These guys really knew how to celebrate.

I turned back to Tank

'Thankyou' was all I could get out worried that I was going to start the waterworks if I said anymore.

They all nodded and smiled

I set the food out on Ranger's coffee table and we all dug in.

When we had all stuffed ourselves Tank placed another bag in my lap. Curious I opened it and pulled out a black shirt, identical to the ones they were all wearing. It had Range man written across the left breast. But on the back it had BOMBSHELL written in large red and orange letters.

I smiled and hugged Tank 'Thanks, its great'

'It's the least I could do after yesterday, you may not work for Rangeman yet but you are now officially part of our team'

I pulled the shirt over my head and gave each of the guys a hug and kiss on the cheek

This time I knew I was going to be ok.


	12. Chapter 13

The guys were helping me clean up the rubbish from the food when I felt a familiar prickling on the back of my neck. I turned around to find Ranger leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed and an amused expression on his face.

'Tank' he said

Tank and the other guys all immediately stopped what they doing and turned around to face Ranger.

'Boss' Tank said

'You want to explain what you are all doing in my apartment when you should be downstairs working'

Tank was about to say something but I jumped in front of him.

'They are here because of me' I looked at Ranger as I said this; I wasn't lying to him so I had no trouble holding his gaze.

Ranger seemed amused at my defensive reaction, but turned to Tank 'I think it's about time you got back to work, the party is over'

Guessing that was my cue to leave as well I picked up my bag of leftovers and my hand bag and headed towards the door after the guys. Ranger however had other ideas as he pulled me to the side and closed the door.

'Not so fast Stephanie' he said with amusement

Great, I really just wanted to go home and shower.

'What's up' I asked

Ranger released my arm and headed over to the kitchen; he got out a bottle of water and took a drink.

I followed him into the kitchen and tried to patiently wait for him to speak, but after a few minutes of silence I couldn't stand it any longer

'This has been fun and all, but I really need to get going' and I headed back towards the front door in a bit of a huff.

Ranger however was one step ahead of me and cut me off before I got to the door, I slammed in to a chest that felt like brick and nearly fell flat on my ass.

Ranger grabbed my arms and steadied me while slightly laughing.

'Asshole' I said under my breath not really caring If he heard it or not.

'Heard that' he said with a smile on his face

'You were meant to' I said back a bit pissy; I didn't like being laughed at.

Ranger's smile grew, so I pulled my arms out of his hands and shoved him back a step.

'I am really not in the mood for one of your mind games, so if you don't mind, I really need to go home and shower' I went to move past him again. This time however he gently placed his hand on my arm which caused me to stop and look up at his face.

He was no longer smiling.

'Sorry Steph, but I need to talk to you'

I thought about it for moment and couldn't help the slightly pissed remark that came out of my mouth

'Do I have a choice in the matter?'

Ranger took his hand away and frowned down at me

'Usually yes, but this time no'

I shook my head not really sure why I was so pissed off, I sighed and tried to relax. I nodded to Ranger and headed to the couch where I sat down and waited.

Ranger followed me and sat down in the chair opposite.

'How are you feeling today' he asked with a concerned tone.

Ok this wasn't what I was expecting Ranger to ask me so my answer was a little less convincing than I had wanted it to sound.

'Fine' I said a little hesitant because of my surprise

Ranger looked at me for a moment 'you had me worried last night'

I looked away from his face and down at my hands and let the words come out, I wasn't sure I was ready to talk about last night but I tried anyway.

'I had myself worried as well; it wasn't the reaction I was expecting to have'

Ranger frowned and leaned forward in his chair

'What do you mean Babe' he asked softly

I kept my focus on my hands and tried to explain the emotions that went through my head last night.

'When I first became a bounty hunter, I was hopeless at it, but always managed to bring my skips in without too much trouble. I never really had to use too much force or use too much violence. I always had someone else be the muscle for me'

I looked up at this comment and smiled at Ranger, he was watching me intently. I got up out of my chair and started to pace

'I got a bit better as time went on, and even got used to using my gun a little, I got a little tougher, a little faster and a lot more stubborn. I expected these changes I was comfortable with them, I was still me. But last night, the way I reacted what I did. Wasn't like me. I saw a threat and I eliminated it, without a second thought. I didn't even know I could shoot like that, I didn't know I thought like that, And so after I had realised what I had done I had a little break down. Sure I was shocked that I had killed someone, but I was more scared at what that meant, what that made me now. Had I really changed that much, how cone I didn't notice'

I stopped pacing and turned to face Ranger

'Last night I went to sleep feeling more lost than I have felt in a long time, but this morning when I woke up I had a little more perspective. I was stupid to think that a job like bounty hunting wasn't going to change me, especially when I am a magnet for psychos. After all the visits to the shooting range I should have known that my ability to hit a target would improve'

I looked at Ranger again, but his face was blank.

I sat back down on the couch and stared at my hands again

'I don't know how I feel about these changes, but I do know that I have lived so long in the land of denial that I am suffocating down there, I need to know who I am now, what I am now. I don't want to wake up one morning and see a stranger in the mirror because I denied or pushed away the opportunity to change. I want to embrace it and for that I need your help'

I looked back up at Ranger, he was watching me with a strange look on his face.

I held his gaze.

After a beat or two I recognised the look on his face.

It was pride, he was proud of me. I felt a warm tingly feeling well up in my stomach at the idea. It wasn't often I made someone proud of me.

'I am proud of you Babe, how can I help'

I held his gaze and told him my idea

'Obviously if I am going to keep this up and continue bounty hunting, I need to get into shape, I need to learn some self defence and I need to be able to run more than a hundred metres at a time. But most of all I need more options. I need to learn how to use a gun so that shooting to kill is not my first thought. I need to know about other places you can shoot someone to disarm or disable them. I thought that if you can spare the time, someone here at Range man could help me with these things'

Ranger nodded and smiled

'Tank can hep you with the gun, he is probably the best and would be more than happy to help you out, Bobby can help you with eating habits for getting into shape, I can help you with the self defence and running'

I frowned for a moment

'Are you sure, I mean Tank and Bobby are fine, but aren't you working on a job at the moment, I don't want to take up your time if you have other commitments'

Ok so I was kind of fishing for info while feeling a little guilty for taking up any free time Ranger might have.

Ranger watched me 'Do you want someone else to teach you' he asked with an edge to his voice.

'No, it's not that, it's just….I thought……I mean…..with your undercover job at the club and Alisa I thought you might be too busy, that's all'

I was all flustered and I knew my face would be flaming bright red.

Ranger looked serious 'What has this got to do with Alisa?'

I needed something to focus on so that I didn't blurt out something that I might not be able to take back, I looked around for something, anything. I came up empty so I looked back at Ranger's face and tried to keep my face neutral.

'It's just the other night I got the impression that you were seeing each other and I don't want to get in the way of that'

Ranger's expression softened a little 'in the way?' he asked

_Shit_ that didn't come out how I meant it 'Yeah I didn't want to take up any of your free time or anything, you know since you would most probably be spending it with her that's all'

Ranger looked at me a little strangely, then he smiled

'Babe, your training will be considered business, not personal; they won't interfere with each other'

I looked at him a little confused.

What the hell was he talking about? I admit I was a little offended that in the past when I had bee referred to as entertainment, But now I was strictly business that didn't sound or feel right. For me with Ranger it was always personal. Had things changed now that he was training me? What the hell was Ranger going on about?

'I don't understand?' I said letting my confusion show.

Ranger held eye contact 'that's what I wanted to talk to you about, once you have started your training and feel ready I could use your help on a the job I have been working on'

I felt a little excited at the prospect 'what do you want me to do?' I asked eager for some info.

Ranger smiled 'You have already done the hard part without intending to, As you know I have been working undercover at the club gaining information on the owner and his brothers'

I nodded,

Ranger continued

'We haven't been getting the information we need as fast as we would like, what I want you to do is to get close to the youngest brother'

I already knew who he was talking about 'Josh' I said

Ranger nodded 'you have already made contact and he is interested, all you have to do is go out with him a few times, get invites to the club, look out for anything suspicious. You will be wearing a wire so Tank and Lester will be able to hear everything that goes on, in case of any danger back off and get out'

'How will I know when I am in danger' I asked a little worried that I always seemed to find out after I had been whacked on the head.

Ranger smiled at me again 'You have good instincts Babe; you just need to trust them. I will help you with that over the next few weeks'

I nodded again 'when do you want me to start'

'The sooner the better, Josh thinks your interested so you don't want to leave it to long before you follow up on the other night, go for coffee, a date, what ever you feel comfortable with, try to avoid being alone with him, just in case'

I took all this in feeling a little bad that I would be leading him on, he seemed nice the other night and I wasn't sure if I was cut out to pull this off.

Ranger did his ESP and caught on to my doubts

'Don't do anything that you aren't comfortable with, from what I gathered the other night you shouldn't have any trouble convincing him that you like him. All you are doing is gaining his trust enough to be shown around the place a little. You don't have to do anything illegal. Just do as Tank and Lester say and you will be fine. I am going to be coming in and out of the scene working with in the club. They already know we are friends so we can play that line'

I remembered something

'I told Josh I was In Law enforcement, what will I say I do'

Ranger smiled 'Tell him you have a desk Job with a security firm, just say you elaborated on the details a little, play the frustrated female looking for adventure'

I wasn't sure if Ranger was having a joke at my expense or not, at the moment it didn't matter.

I thought about the details for a moment, did I really want to do this 'What about my work with Vinnie, and do I get paid?' I smiled with the last part

Ranger raised an eyebrow at me

'Bobby and Hal have volunteered to look after your skips, we want you to keep a low daytime profile while the job is on, it will free up your tine and allow you to get some training in, try not to blow anything up. You can still do your regular day to day activities just don't go after any skips'

I nodded at this it did make sense 'what about the pay'

'You will be looked after Babe, don't worry about the money, I will supply a car and money for clothes and what ever other expenses you may incur, as well as pay for the job, so will you do it'

I thought about it, I would be getting paid to date a cute guy while spying on him and his family. I asked one last question that had been bugging me from the beginning 'When the guys left you were going to ask me to do this job, how did you know I was going to suggest training'

Ranger smiled a full Ranger smile at me 'just a hunch' he replied

'Just a hunch, I could have given up and thrown the bounty hunting away' I said

Ranger's smile remained 'there was that possibility and I did consider it, but it's not in you to give up, I was pretty sure you wouldn't'

'Thanks, I think' I said and felt myself smiling back, I couldn't help it he had that effect on me.

'And yes I will do the job' I stood up and held my hand out to Ranger 'lets shake on it' I said half expecting him to laugh at the gesture.

Ranger raised an eyebrow and stood up 'Very professional, welcome to Rangeman' Ranger joked and placed his hand in mine he gave it a light shake but didn't release it straight away.

'That's our relationship, strictly business' I half joked back, not being able to stop before the words left my mouth, I was really going to have to work on that.

Ranger's smile faded and he released my hand.

'Babe?' he asked

I just smiled and shook my head 'just my bad attempt at a joke, sorry wont happen again'

I looked at the clock on the wall and noticed it was three o'clock; I really needed to get home and charge my phone so I could let everyone know I was ok.

'Shit look at the time, I better go, was there anything else. I will make the call to Josh tomorrow and go for coffee I will let you know the details'

Ranger looked at me intently for a moment then took a step towards me

'Are you going to be ok?'

All of a sudden I felt I few tears prick at the back of my eyes what the hell was it about Ranger that could break my composure. When anyone else asked if I was going to be ok, I could give the standard answer. But when he asked it touched something inside of you that hid all your problems from the outside world. The truth is that I was ok and I knew once the training started and I got going in this job that I would adjust. But right now I was still vulnerable and needed to get out of there fast, before I started to cry, before I let Ranger get too close.

I put on the best blank face I could muster and knew I must look constipated and looked at Ranger's face 'Yep just peachy' and I started to head for the door

'Babe' Ranger called out behind me.

I turned and keep my face in place 'yeah'

'You want that car' he said with a smile

'Now, you already have it'

Ranger nodded and handed me a pair of keys 'it's in the garage, I will show you, the guys organised it this morning as a thankyou'

I looked at the keys in my hand; there were three sets of keys

'What are all the keys for 'I asked happy to be focusing on something else?

Ranger gave me that intent look again 'the red one is for the car, the blue one is for the front gate and the third one is to this apartment'

Our eyes met for a moment 'Why?' I asked unable to help myself

Ranger looked serious 'in case you need refuge, or just a place to stay, my door is always open Steph'

I nodded in a little shock last time I had broken into his apartment in a time of need and Ranger had let me stay, this time he was saying I was welcome anytime I guess stranger things had happened.

I smiled at Ranger 'thankyou, I appreciate it' and we walked down to the car park in silence.


	13. Chapter 14

It turned out that the car was a red Porsche identical to the one Ranger drove bar the colour; it had all the little gizmo's and technical stuff inside. I knew that there was probably a tracker on it, which didn't really bother me anymore. I guess it was going to happen no matter what car I had.

I had thanked Tank and the guys for the car and driven it home, Ranger had been quiet through the whole process which wasn't anything new. He had smiled at my reaction (which I am sure you can imagine). The guys were all happy with my excitement and I promised to let them know the details of the meeting with Josh.

I drove the Porsche home and parked it in the lot at my apartment, kind of reluctant to leave it out in the open, Lester had joked that there were a couple more like stashed away in case this one died. I was only half convinced it was a joke.

Once I inside my apartment I charged my phone and turned it on.

I had fourteen missed calls.

Ten were from my mother and grandmother asking what happened.

Two were from Lula, asking me to call her when and let her know I was ok, and one was from Mary Lou.

The other two to my surprise were from Joe Morelli the first one was a sigh and 'Call me' then he hung up.

The second was a little longer 'Cupcake, sorry Steph, please call me when you get this message and let me know you are ok, Eddie said you were pretty out of it. I guess you are staying with Ranger' sigh 'please call me' and he hung up.

I called my mother first, filled her in and got off the phone promising to come to dinner when I could.

I called Mary Lou and left a message for Lula.

I decided to call Joe next.

'Morelli' he almost barked into the phone guess he was in a bad mood

'Joe' I said a little tentative used to that anger being because of something I had done.

Joe sighed on the other end of the phone 'Steph, glad to hear from you, are you ok' he asked with concern

'Yeah Joe I am fine, sorry I just got back to you but my battery on my phone was flat'

Joe laughed at this

'Good to know some things don't change' the laughter died in his voice and he turned serious again 'Listen Steph, we need you to come to the station and make a statement about what happened. You aren't in any trouble, so don't worry. There is something we need to talk about though, are you at home?'

I nodded and then realised he couldn't hear me and gave my self a mental head slap 'Yeah'

'Good stay there I will bring Pino's'

And he hung up.

Ok, this was not the first time that today that I was going to ask

_What the hell was going on?_

I jumped in the shower and changed my clothes, by the time I was done and went back into the lounge room Joe was sitting on the couch with the pizza boxes on the coffee table.

He looked up at me when I entered the room and looked relieved he walked over and hugged me. It felt weird hugging Joe in a friendly but not _friendly_ way. He pulled out of the hug and sat back down on the couch.

'Sorry' he said and smiled

'Don't be its fine' and I sat down next to him. To push away any uncomfortable silence we may have had we both dug into the pizza and left the talking until we were done. Joe got up and got two beers out of the fridge and handed me one.

I smiled in a thanks and started 'So what's up'

Joe looked at me 'Where did you stay last night' he asked almost too casually

I blew out a deep breath 'At the Range man building, why'

Joe turned back to his bottle of beer and played with the label

'I was looking for you, that's all'

I felt a pang of guilt but pushed it away 'I am sorry, but I pretty much went straight to sleep, I didn't think to call you and let you know I was ok'

'It's alright Steph, I just didn't want you to be alone that's all, I know how much you hate using guns, I knew you would be upset' Joe continued to play with his label.

'I wasn't alone' was all I said knowing I didn't have to justify my actions but not wanting to shut him out completely either 'Joe I am ok, just a little shaken, I will get through it'

Joe looked at me closely "you have changed cupcake, in the weeks I was away you changed, something is different about you, I don't know what but its there. Once upon a time you would have freaked out at what happened'

I couldn't help the smile that came over my face

'I did, last night, but the difference is, this time I am going to do something about it, I am going to get training, I am going to learn how to do my job rather than just winging it all the time and relying on luck'

Joe looked at me sharply 'Ranger going to train you?'

'Yeah, and a few of his men, I will be working with them for a while'

Joe turned back to his label and started to peel it off

'I was always afraid that you would get sucked into his world, that you would be drawn to the adventure and one day I would lose you to him' he turned and looked at me again 'But now I know that it wasn't him that I was going to lose you to, it was you'

I frowned in confusion 'Huh, What do you mean'

Joe smiled gently and explained

'You always were drawn to the unexpected, you came and played choo choo when you were six, you ran me over with the Buick when I stole your virginity and you took a crazy job that you had no skills in and survived things half the human population wouldn't have survived and you stayed sane doing it. You aren't just drawn to the danger, I think you need to be apart of it. For some reason you need that element in your life and I was always threatening to take it away from you. But I was scared to lose you. I always thought Ranger encouraged you and that it was his fault that you stayed in your Job. But now after spending a lot of time thinking about what I could have done different so that I didn't lose you, I realise the answer is nothing. I understand what you were saying the other day. You need at this time in your life to have your adventures, you would always regret it if you didn't. Me on the other hand have had my adventures and am ready for other things. I just want you to know that I understand'

I was in shock, Joe understood. It took a couple of minutes for me to get over the initial shock and gain the ability to speak again. But I didn't want to ruin the moment with words. It felt good, the last bit of guilt I had in regards to my relationship with Joe was lifted and I felt free. I leaned over kissed him on the cheek.

'Thankyou, you don't know how much that means'

Joe smiled 'You're welcome' he placed his hand on to mine 'I feel better saying it. So friends'

"Friends' I smiled

Joe's face turned business again and I waited for what ever was to come

'I wanted to talk to you about the something else. The woman that you shot last night was apart of a small drug ring in Trenton. I don't think there are too many of them left in town, after Ranger's men rounded most of them up last night. But I wanted to warn you that some of them might be out for revenge. Just be careful and keep your eyes open. It s probably best that you are working with Ranger and his men for the time being they can help you out at least until I can scope out what is left of them'

'Thanks for the heads up' I said

Joe got up from his seat 'I need to get going, we should do this again sometime, as friends' he smiled.

I thanked him again and he headed towards the door. As he reached for the handle he pulled his hand back and slowly turned around.

'Cupcake, just promise me one thing' he said softy

'What' I asked

'Be careful' he paused 'Try not to let Ranger's world get you killed'

I understood that Joe was scared for me "I wont, I promise to be careful' I said knowing he would take comfort in that.

Joe smiled nodded and left my apartment.

After he left I went to the bag of goodies that I brought home and settled down on the couch to eat some left over chocolate cake and a few donuts. I turned the TV on and settled on a rerun of Buffy the Vampire Slayer with an excited feeling beginning form in the back of my mind. My life was about to change and for the first time in years I felt ready to meet it head on. I finished my chocolate cake and went to sleep on the couch dreaming of flying.


End file.
